Ms. Su, who lives in the United States, often communicates with her eight-year-old son in Chinese. Once, when the child was about to take an exam, Ms. Su said, “Come on, baby! Do you know how to learn Chinese?” The child asked curiously, “How?” Ms. Su dumbfounded.
This kind of situation is actually not uncommon. Many Chinese parents say that children are often puzzled by some commonly used idioms that they blurt out, but they feel that idioms “can only be understood, not expressed in words”, and it is difficult to explain to their children. . So, how can Chinese children learn idioms well? The editor provides four ideas for parents today, you might as well go back and try.
1.Choose a good story and match the animation When many parents buy idiom storybooks for their children, they choose one at random in the market. They think that their children have good Chinese skills and can understand, so they just throw it to their children. （If you want to know more about Chinese learning, please feel free to click here!）
In this case, the child will generally just rummage through it and throw it aside. When parents buy books for Chinese children, try to choose books with short storylines, colorful pictures, easy to understand idioms, and easy to use in daily life. If there is no such finished book, parents must choose the story themselves.
For example: Stories such as Carving a boat and seeking a sword, It’s not too late to make up for it after a dead sheep, and “Putting seedlings to encourage growth” are easy to understand and easy to use, and they are all suitable for Chinese children to learn.
If the child can’t sit still and the parents spend less time with them, it is a good idea to match the corresponding Chinese animation. Parents can try the APP “Children’s Animated Idiom Stories”, which will contain elementary school idioms cartoons.
2.Divide into categories and gradually refine Idioms are an advanced learning for Chinese children. We parents don’t need to put too much pressure on our children to study. Under normal circumstances, there are not many idioms used in daily life, and learning about a hundred is enough for reading, writing and communication.
Parents can classify these idioms into categories. For example, first divide daily idioms into two categories: commendatory and derogatory, after the child can probably judge the emotional color of the learned idioms. Then divide into idioms of location, numbers, etc. in detail, and gradually refine these idioms, so that children can use idioms more accurately.
Get closer and use what you have learned How to learn Chinese? Idioms are also often used in people’s daily life. If the child encounters some obscure idioms, the best way is to accompany the child to reproduce the scene, which will help to narrow the distance between the child and the idiom. After learning an idiom, parents should take the initiative to give their children the opportunity to use it and give more real examples.
For example, the idiom “Self-recommendation”, parents can ask when picking up their children from school: Has the teacher assigned any new tasks? Did you recommend yourself in class? If you want a little help from your children at home, you can also ask: Who can help mom, and I will see who can recommend themselves. Use idioms in life, so that children can master idioms and apply what they have learned.
4.Comparing with cultural differences, understand the meaning of idioms For Chinese children in the “non-Chinese character cultural circle”, they often face some cultural conflicts that they do not understand. For example, when describing a lot of things, the Chinese will use an idiom: “喷金如土”, while the English expression is “spend money like water”.
At this time, parents can explain to their children the national conditions of the two countries. The UK is an island country surrounded by water. Therefore, for the UK, the most resource is water. However, China is a large agricultural country with rich land resources, so soil is often used to describe a lot.
This kind of comparative introduction can help children have a more comprehensive understanding of China’s national conditions and culture, and better understand the meaning of idioms.
The learning of any language is inseparable from the constant consolidation of the children. Our parents should pay more attention to scientific methods and spend more time with their children in learning. I believe that the children will be able to master daily idioms proficiently soon!
Learn to write
Many Chinese children will face a problem: they can’t write! Can’t remember!
It is true that many domestic children are also like this when learning Chinese characters. In fact, there are ways to solve this problem. Both English and Chinese characters have certain characteristics.
Some Chinese characters are pictographs, which are Chinese characters composed of pictures or signs. That is to say, they can be strengthened and memorized by connecting pictures, which is much easier than rote memorization.
There are also some pictophonetic characters, “shape” refers to the shape, and “sound” refers to the sound. As long as you know the pronunciation of the sound of the character, you can usually pronounce the word correctly.
In the process of learning, teachers or parents should also reduce the difficulty appropriately, and use some metaphors to illustrate the structure of Chinese characters. For example, the Chinese character “one” in Chinese characters, in order to facilitate memory, you can tell the child: “one” is a horizontal branch, use the method of association, connect the things that you often see in life, so that children can learn more easily. Remember the characteristics and structure of the word. Respect the original copyright!
Learn to understand
After many children have accumulated a certain vocabulary, parents and teachers will encourage children to form words, make sentences, and read. But if you don’t understand Chinese enough, you will definitely make many grammatical and word mistakes, which will often make you laugh.
At this time, children can properly watch some Chinese-related cartoons, picture books, and variety shows. When watching cartoons, reading picture books, and watching variety shows, parents and teachers can also give certain explanations. Explain some words and sentences so that children can understand the meaning of the sentences and words.
You can also give some simple words for children to make sentences, and encourage them to use the same words to form different sentences. In this way, the purpose of flexible use can be achieved.
You can also play some lighter games with your children, such as word matching games. For example, “apple , weather , breakfast _“, “big, sunny, delicious” let the children fill in the predicate after the subject that can be matched.
After the child has been able to make sentences and understand short passages smoothly, he can read some easy-to-understand storybooks, such as “Easy Cat: Graded Chinese Readers”. I believe this set of books will be of great help to children in learning Chinese .
“Mom, how to learn Chinese? This story is so long, I really can’t read it anymore.” “Keep going, finish the book!” “But reading is so boring, I’ve been reading it for a long time, and I don’t even understand the relationship between them.
Unexpectedly, the child had no interest at all and could not read it. So, what can parents do to make their children fall in love with reading Chinese books? We can try the following three methods.
Targeted selection of books A good book is not necessarily suitable for children to read. When choosing Chinese books, you should focus on your child’s age, hobbies, and needs. For example, for Chinese children aged 3-9, you can choose short fables, preferably with pictures, such as “Aesop’s Fables” and “Andersen’s Fairy Tales”.
Children aged 9-15 can choose novellas or idiom storybooks, such as “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” and “Education of Love”. Only children over the age of 15 who have years of Chinese learning foundation can buy him classics. At this time, the child has his own appreciation ability and accumulation needs.
We can buy him some popular science books, including “Chinese Geography”, “Up and Down Five Thousand Years” and so on. In addition, when buying books, you should refer to your children’s opinions, and let your children choose according to their hobbies. Parents can’t buy books all over the place, lest the books they buy will be shelved.
Parent-child communication is very important Young children tend to gulp down the books when they read, and they read many books without actually acquiring any knowledge at all. Therefore, it is best for parents to have time to read with their children.
If there is no time, it is recommended that parents communicate with their children about reading experience before eating or going to bed. You can ask them these questions: which character do you like (dislike) most in this book, what story is told in the chapter you read today, what did you learn, what did you understand, etc.
Even if the child utters the simplest answer, parents should encourage in time and add positive reinforcement to the child’s reading, so as to improve the child’s reading self-control and reading passion.
How to learn Chinese?
Help children develop good reading habits Many children feel that reading is boring and uncomfortable, and it is more because they do not have good reading habits, and children will feel physically and mentally exhausted.
When reading, pay attention to the child’s reading posture, such as correct sitting posture, do eye exercises after reading the book, and look into the distance, which can reduce the physical pressure on the child’s reading.
In addition, it is best for parents to make a reading plan with their children. Including the fixed time and duration of reading every day, as well as the number of articles read. Avoid the disadvantages of children forgetting part after not reading for a long time after reading a part.
Making children’s reading system continuous is also conducive to helping them form a good habit of persistent reading. It is best for parents to lead by example, create a good reading family atmosphere for their children, and let them fall in love with reading through hearing and seeing.
4.Find the right textbook While there are plenty of resources on the Internet, there is also a lot of distracting information of all kinds. How many times have you opened your web browser (or smartphone) looking for one thing, but got lost and lost time on YouTube?
Textbooks can help you stay away from electronic devices for a certain period of time and study more focusedly. Also, a good textbook can provide an overview and demonstration of a system, giving you the big picture, compared to short video clips, blogs, or snippets of knowledge in an app.
Be sure to find an appropriate textbook considering your age and interests. The right material should feel fresh to you, but not too difficult. Its topics should be interesting to you, and the focus of the dialogue or grammar should be on your cognitive level. It should also have practice and consolidation. When looking for textbooks, consult some professional educators, tell them your level and interests, and get a list of recommended books.
5.Make friends with other learners You are not alone in this world, language is for communication, so you can learn a language by communicating, and you should!
Don’t be shy, tell your family, friends, and the whole world – you are learning Chinese. They will help you make progress. You may find a learning partner who has been thinking about learning Chinese or is already on the road, and share information and progress with each other. The encouragement of your peers will make you more motivated.
There are billions of Chinese-speaking people in the world, using the Internet and social media to find such a communication and learning partner. Zoom to meet him/her, make a study plan and have fun.
6.Make full use of time How to learn Chinese? Learning Chinese does not require a lot of continuous time, you can use fragmented time. Study anytime, anywhere while you’re waiting at the airport or in the parking lot before coffee, dinner or a game. Download to smartphone apps, audio, video, vocabulary, short sentences, or from handwritten flashcards in your pocket. Repetition is the secret to memory, use spaced repetition to learn more scientifically.
It is very common that most people start learning Chinese within a few days, and then the battery dies quickly. Sustainable learning is challenging, but not impossible. Don’t be afraid to speak up and use Chinese publicly, we can learn better from responses and feedback.
Don’t hesitate to show off the new word or phrase you just learned. Watch some Chinese movies, listen to some Chinese songs or poems, if you don’t understand, don’t worry, you can start to increase your interest by appreciating the beauty of Chinese culture. Eventually, this habit will develop slowly, and day after day, you will become proficient in Chinese.
How to learn Chinese? Still thinking Chinese is difficult to conquer? If you study under the professional guidance of a trained tutor, you will find yourself making huge improvements over time.
Online Chinese class for adults is difficult, why?
Before I came to China, I thought Chinese was the most difficult language to learn, because there are many Chinese characters in Chinese, and each Chinese character has many meanings and sometimes the pronunciation is different.
At that time, I didn’t have the confidence to learn Chinese. But after coming to China, I found that if you are in China, especially in Beijing, there is a good environment for learning Chinese. Although Chinese is difficult, there are many ways to help us solve the difficulties in learning Chinese. (If you want to know more about Chinese learning, please feel free to contact us.)
When I first came here, I couldn’t understand anything other than the numbers from one to ten, and I couldn’t speak fluently. Now I think it’s okay, because I used many methods when I was learning Chinese.
The first way is to choose a foreign roommate for yourself. Coincidentally, my roommate is a Thai, she is a student in the intermediate class, her level is higher than mine, and she speaks fluently. In this way, I can talk to her every day, chat with her, and practice my oral English. This method is of great help to me, if I don’t know how to say it, I can ask her by the way.
The second way for online Chinese class for adults is to often watch TV and watch Chinese programs. I can choose many programs, such as: news, movies, TV series, sports, life, cartoon (animation) and so on. My favorite things to watch are cartoons, movies, TV series and life shows.
Cartoon programs are programs for children. They are relatively simple and easy to understand and understand. Watching movies and TV shows can help you understand how adults usually speak, and you can also learn new words from them.
If I encounter new words, I can read the dictionary while watching TV, so I can learn a lot of new words. Even if you can’t remember it once, you can remember it after watching it a lot. Take your time. I also like watching life shows, because I can learn a lot of knowledge.
Watching TV can improve my listening ability, and it can also help me recognize Chinese characters. Improving listening skills is of course, but how to help people recognize Chinese characters?
When watching TV, I can listen to them while watching the subtitles below. Reading more Chinese characters will definitely help me recognize and remember Chinese characters. But because my Chinese level is not yet high, I can read the subtitles too slowly, so I can see the first words, but I can’t read the latter ones in time.
Sometimes I don’t really watch TV, the TV is turned on, but I don’t watch it, I listen to the sound of the TV to do my homework.
The third way is to listen to the text recordings. We have recordings of texts for reading and speaking. Sometimes I do things while listening to the recording, for example, doing laundry or cleaning the house while listening to the recording, which saves time. In order to understand the meaning, I sometimes played the recording repeatedly.
The fourth way is to buy things. When shopping, I can listen to what other people say, how to ask, how to buy things, and I can learn a lot from talking to the salesperson or listening to them. Sometimes you can ask him, what is this thing called, what is that thing called. If I have time, I can chat with him for a while.
When shopping, for example, in a supermarket, in order to understand what you want to buy, you must read Chinese characters. When encountering a Chinese character you have learned, it is equivalent to reviewing it again, and you can guess the meaning if you don’t understand it.
In fact, there are many ways to learn Chinese, and there are many opportunities to see Chinese characters in life. You can look at the stop signs at bus stops or subway stations, and look at the menus when you go to restaurants to see if you can read them and understand what they mean. . It is also a good way to make friends with Chinese people, you can chat, send and receive text messages and so on.
There are many ways to help us learn Chinese, but the most important thing is to rely on ourselves. If we don’t work hard, there will be no way. It is necessary to study hard, and it is impossible to do nothing.
Russia’s “Komsomolskaya Pravda” article on April 20, original title: In order for children to be competitive in the international job market, they should learn Chinese. April 20 is the United Nations Chinese Day. Alexei Naam, head of the Harlem-China Friendship Association, was interviewed and answered questions such as how to start learning Chinese.
Nam said: “Chinese has become an international language, and there are currently about 40 million people around the world who are learning this language. For those who are just starting to learn Chinese, the biggest difficulty may be mastering pictographs. For us, learning Chinese characters may feel unaccustomed.
But I think, pictographs are easier to remember than letters and words, because it is like a painting. For children who are new to Chinese, pictographs are the easiest , because there are connections between different Chinese characters, after mastering the basic Chinese characters, all that remains is to memorize the correct pronunciation.”
When talking about the number of Chinese characters that need to be mastered, Namu said that for middle school graduates, the standard is to master 1,500 to 3,000 Chinese characters, while college graduates need to master 5,000 to 7,000 Chinese characters. He also mentioned that learning Chinese calligraphy is helpful to master the Chinese language. Calligraphy is an art and a part of traditional Chinese culture. In addition, learning calligraphy helps to develop students’ aesthetics, as well as enhance their comprehension and perseverance.
At present, some schools in the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk region have offered Chinese courses. After students pass the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) and reach a certain level of Chinese, they will have the opportunity to enter China’s first-class universities and receive scholarships.
Nahm said: “As far as I know, many Russian graduates who learn Chinese find jobs in Chinese companies in Australia or Europe, and some of them finish their studies and return to work in China. Some people stay in China. , and work there.”
Nam said: “It is necessary to master online Chinese class for adults nowadays, but if we want our children to be more competitive in the international job market, then we should give priority to letting children learn Chinese. Because a lot of trade and major production are in China. If If you want to work in China, you’d better master basic Chinese first.”
