Why you understand Chinese but can’t speak.
Understanding but being unable to speak is a very common phenomenon among language learners.
I was stuck in this stage for a long time. And I was frustrated for a long time!
Until I realized something important…
This is actually a good place to be. Because it means that I’m on the right path.
The typical progression looks like this:
Can’t Understand, Can’t Speak
Can Understand, Can’t Speak
Can Understand, Can Speak
As a beginner, I always recommend getting lots of listening input because it's a lot easier to listen as a beginner than to speak as a beginner.
Although I still recommend speaking, listening is easier and more accessible.
So it’s natural that your listening will improve faster than your speaking will.
Of course, you can try to practice speaking without ever learning to understand. But that wouldn’t be very practical unless your goal is to only give TED Talks.
And there wouldn’t be much of a conversation…
If you want to understand and speak, it starts with listening, followed closely by speaking.
So if you find that your listening skills are ahead of your speaking skills, this is a good thing!
It means that you are on the right track to speaking with confidence and having meaningful conversations.
You just need to start practicing speaking Mandarin.
How do you do that?
I break it down into 8 simple steps in the Copy Paste Speak System so you can hold a conversation with Chinese speakers.
Get access here:
https://copypastespeaking.danyopang.com/
And as a bonus, for anyone who enrolls, I’ll throw in the Language Learner OS to help you organize your study notes and vocabulary all in one place.
(this week only).
加油,
Danyo
PS vocabulary of the day:
伪命题 (wěi mìng tí)
伪 (wěi): False; fake.
命 (mìng): Life; fate; here it means "proposition" or "assertion".
题 (tí): Topic; subject; problem.
Translation: Pseudo-proposition; a false or misleading proposition.
Example sentence: 他说的那些问题其实是伪命题,根本不值得讨论。(Tā shuō de nàxiē wèntí qíshí shì wěi mìng tí, gēnběn bù zhí dé tǎo lùn.) The issues he mentioned are actually pseudo-propositions and are not worth discussing at all.