Search from various English teachers...
Greece flagChristinaProfessional Teacher
Too much focus on speaking?

It seems to me that students and teachers of chinese (on italki and elsewhere) focus more on speaking what mandarin the student already knows than retaining new vocabulary or learning characters and their pronounciation.

 

Speaking is important for those who travel or live in China or work with Chinese people. However, being able to read an internet article or write an email is equally important. Not all of us are going to live in China :)

 

I can see the need for vocabulary lists and textbooks, but unlike in other languages, I have trouble finding chinese teachers and language partners who would work with extra exercises and practice methods other than conversation and vocabulary lists. It's always speaking, speaking or translating during the chat. 

 

I don't know if it's the chinese school system or what the student "market" has imposed, but it's the only language where I'm required to do all the work on my own and have a session or an exchange just to present what I've studied from various internet sources! 

 

I think this method slows down learning and makes it a bit tedious, as if the language itself wasn't difficult enough. Personally, I'd make more efforts if I could see results proportional to the hours I've put in studying. If it works for other languages, why can't it work for chinese, too?

 

Comments · 5

1

In my opinion, when you get lost in grammar, it would be more difficult to speak fluently. So it's not practical. I think one must balance these four: speaking, reading, writing and listening. One without three of these would be not enough. 

1

I think Chinese is a beatiful lauguage.For example,the same sentence has a lot of different expression.I think translating is a good way to learn Chinese.But you can translate a English sentence into different sentence.Like 'How are you' into "你好” or “吃饭了吗？” or “今天怎么样？”.Some sentences maybe difficult.But I think it's also an interesting things.Then think about other's mind.Chinese sometimes don't speak their true mind,but in their sentence,you can feel it.In your heart(mind) think about each other,even though your Chinese isn't good,other's mind can convey to you,and your mind can convey to other too!

You also can watch some Chinese movies!I hope you can improve your Chinese skills!

1

Frankly speaking, I'm always wondering how you English speakers to learn Chinese, because as a student major in Chinese language and literature, I know there's a really big difference between both language.

I consider English could be learned by remembering vocabularies and understanding its grammar. However, my teacher told me that mordern Chinese language is still finding its way to form a mature grammar system. That is, learning Chinese may be a totally different thing with learning English. For example, we may express the same idea by using different words and structures, and the same sentences may express different meanings sometimes.

So in my opinion, translating may not be the best way to learn Chinese, but it can make you feel this language (= = I know this is not efficient and scientific enough = =).  

 

0

@Yujiwen

It is beautiful indeed. That's why I want to learn it so much :)

I agree we should learn the various meanings of the same phrase in a language, but I am not able to do it yet. I think I need more vocabulary for this.

I recently started watching subtitled TV dramas in Chinese. They helped me a lot with intonation. 

 

@Alaz

I try to keep a balance in speaking, reading, writing and listening. That's why it is so difficult for me to learn chinese. I can't have a balanced study. Maybe I am unable to find the correct ressources, maybe the ressources are unbalanced.

0

@ 哔啵啵

 

I am not an english native speaker :)

But yes, I can see what you mean about a mature grammar system versus a language that is still being formed. I am not sure I agree, though, because in reality there is no language that is completely mature. Living languages are fluid and mutating.

 

About translating: I like to know all the words in a text, their meanings and their function. I appreciate it when I see a sentence like "Sorry, I can't come to the park, I'm tired" and the teachers translate everything, not just the words for my level.

 

However, I will not retain the words sorry, park, tired if I only see them in fixed dialogues in textbooks or asked to use them randomly in a repetitive dialogue.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!

Start Learning Today