Speaking Chinese after 4 months of learning?
Ria messaged me 1 year ago:
She had been learning Chinese for 4 months.
And as she affectionately put it, she was at “HSK 0”.
Ria had 3 main problems:
Did not understand native speech.
Did not have enough vocabulary.
Not confident speaking.
Once she fixed these 3 issues, she went from being afraid and stuck with speaking to enjoying speaking every day.
3 main lessons from her journey:
1) Practical vocabulary goes first
Most people think they need to memorize thousands of words to be fluent.
That's not the case at all.
Ria focused on watching videos of native speakers having conversations. She learned real, conversational language, not just textbook vocabulary.
The problem is not that she did not have enough vocabulary. It’s that she was learning the wrong vocabulary first.
2) Practice Speaking Daily
Listening is important. But it’s not enough.
Ria added speaking practice to apply what she learned speaking.
When you apply what you learn by speaking, you consolidate your knowledge so you don’t forget it.
It forces you to figure out how to use vocabulary in a sentence, the grammar patterns, and how to pronounce it properly.
3) Limit study time
Ria’s initial question highlights an important point: if you only had 1 hour a day for active studying, how would you use it?
If we all had unlimited time to devote to learning Chinese, we could try everything and maybe we would all be fluent.
But when time is limited, we need to focus on the most important things that help us reach our goal: speaking Mandarin with confidence.
Ria knew this and she only focused on the highest-leverage activities that move the needle.
This is how she started speaking after 4 months of study at HSK 0.
Chinese Speakers opens in 5 days and we only have 9 spots for this month.
Reply "Chinese Speakers" and I'll get you the details early.
加油，
Danyo