Methods To Learn Chinese Words For Mastery Of The Language

As in other languages, there will come a time when you will need to learn Chinese words as basic vocabulary. When this happens, there are numerous ways to start studying. But, how do you know the order to learn Chinese words? There are three main ways to help you decide. These include frequency of use, complexity of the written language or by situation. Each approach has pros and cons for its use.

One way to learn Chinese words is by frequency of their use. As with all languages, you will find there are some terms which get used all the time. Other expressions will be used only rarely. Many scholars say if you pick up the 20% most commonly used terms in Mandarin, then you will be able to understand 80% of what you hear and read. This advice should be comforting to someone wanting to learn Chinese words! However, the downside of this tactic is you will find grammatical terms often come up more frequently than actual nouns. For example, you will see “and” and “the” come up frequently in English sentences. So you will need to find some sort of balance when using this study method.

A second way to learn Chinese words is by the complexity of the written language. This technique really only applies if you plan on mastering Chinese characters and not Pinyin. The actual pronunciation of Mandarin terms is roughly equal in complexity. The characters, however, can range from simple to complex. By starting with simpler characters you can build on the knowledge to learn Chinese words which are more complex. The main downside of learning using this approach is you will need some of the more complex words to build proper sentences. For this reason, you should always learn to speak the language first and then teach yourself to write the words instead of the other way around.

The third way to learn Chinese words is to base your vocabulary around certain situations. This method is often preferred by travelers and used in many language programs. For example, you may study all of the expressions and phrases associated with eating dinner at a restaurant or ordering a hotel room. The good thing about this method is you will learn both verbs and nouns in a proper balance. The bad thing is if you go outside of the textbook scenario then you may find it hard to communicate. For instance, you could master all the words associated with successfully ordering soup at a restaurant but not be able to make small talk with the waiter about the weather. For this reason, you would need to learn Chinese words from several chapters of the program before you would be ready to go on a trip.

Ideally, the educational program you decide on should include a balance of the above techniques. If you decide to teach yourself, then remember being able to learn Chinese words for restroom and soup is just the beginning. You should also look into vocabulary which highlights your own personal interests.