Why is learning Mandarin more popular than ever before? What are the best strategies to understand basic conversations? In our most recent blog article, you will find out why speaking and writing in this language activates the right side of your brain and which strategies should be used to understand basic conversations.
Learning Mandarin – Popular in the Western Hemisphere
With over 1.1 billion speakers, Mandarin is the second most spoken language in the world. The increasing importance of the language is one of the main reasons why people decide to learn it.
This resulted in more than 70 countries and regions incorporating the Chinese language into their national education system by the end of 2020 and Chinese language being adopted as one of the official languages of the United World Tourism Organization.
There is a growing number of people who have started learning Mandarin in recent years. Mandarin is perceived as the “language of the future” and as an important language to position oneself for jobs in business, law and international relations.
Cognitive Benefits
Chinese is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, a group of languages that all descend from Proto-Sino-Tibetan. The Chinese writing system represents a unique style of writing and has over 50’000 characters.
Chinese characters are notably complex in structure and are written in four directions: left and right, up and down.
The chronological movement of the fingers and hand to jot down a character stimulates neural activity in the thinking, working, and spatial memory of the mind of the learners. Learning Chinese characters improves the development of fine motor skills as well as keeps the mind sharp due to actively using both parts of the brain.
Understanding Basic Conversations
What are the most useful steps to improve your conversational Mandarin skills?
To improve your conversational skills, it is important to listen to the language as often as possible and become familiar with the sounds.
One of the main challenges of Mandarin are the different tones. Listening comprehension is the core skill necessary to engage in conversation with people. A full immersion in the language would undoubtedly be the most efficient and fastest way to improve your conversational skills.
However, as not everyone is able to take this major step, there are also options to create this immersion where you live. The key to do so is to interact with the Chinese language as much as possible throughout the day.
Besides listening to Chinese TV programs, you can also listen to Chinese songs and read the lyrics out loud. An extremely effective method is to find a language partner who can correct your pronunciation and give you tips tailored to your level.
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At inlingua, we believe that you learn a new language by speaking it. That is why we focus on the oral skills first, followed by improving your reading, listening, and writing skills.