Good study ideas/habits

Language Learning Chinese
1

My confidence with learning Chinese is not growing like I would like it to. I am still more apt to speak English when given the opportunity, and I’m not that out going when it comes to making Chinese friends. Basically I need a little mentoring here.

I’m looking for some good study ideas/methods/habits. I’m in the second book of practical Chinese, and still haven’t found a method that will help me ground the grammar points. Also, I have a language exchange pt but it’s not producing the results that I would like. (I can take responsibility for that cause I speak more English at times.) Anyone who can mentor me and give me some good ideas about what to do to strengthen my learning would be appreciated. Thanks… :help: :help:

2

Sounds like you need to put yourself in more situations where speaking English is not an option. Examples:

Move in with people who only speak Mandarin. (I did this, for 5.5 years, with marvelous results.)

Find a language exchange partner who agrees to abide by strict rules: English only for 1/2 the time (no exceptions!) and Chinese only for the other half. Enforce this on each other.

Get a sig-O who speaks only Mandarin.

Spend more time taking walks and browsing in stores, and trying to use Mandarin “out there”.