um.. is this speaking practice?

[Strawberries513]

Hi This might be a stupid question, but i was just wondering if it counted as actual speaking practice if I just say random things in Mandarin to my beijing-born bf. Most of the time he forgets and replies in English, and its not structured things that im really saying to him. He does correct me most of the time though

does this count? If not, how do I practice? dont you have to be speaking to a native for it to count?

sorry for all the questions hehe

Thanks

[Gulao]

Well, it gives you practice with forming the sounds with your mouth, and tells you what you shouldn't be doing, but this isn't the full form belonging to speaking practice. I'd encourage your boyfriend to speak back to you in Chinese more often, because you will get examples of proper Chinese pronunciation and grammar, i.e. what you should be doing as opposed to what you shouldn't be doing.

[Strawberries513]

thanks, anyone else?

What other ways are there to practice speaking? (sorry for all the questions)

[Hongbao]

If it helps you then keep it up. I don't think you could say it that something counts or not as real practise.

You could speak to friends, shopowners, strangers, yourself, a taperecorder, a wall, someone on Skype - anything is practise.

Hongbao

[leosmith]

What other ways are there to practice speaking?

Hi Strawberries513. The hardest part of learning a language for me is the first few hours of conversation. By "hardest" I mean most intense; it's embarassing and frustrating, probably because I'm sort of a perfectionist. So I found a way to cheat a little. I hire a tutor, with the specific instructions not to correct me unless she can't undestand me. This usually drives the tutor nuts at first, but it takes a ton of pressure off me. I try to have 1 hour sessions, 5 days per week. After I feel more comfortable, I allow corrections.

I don't know if you want to try this out on your boyfriend; it's pretty intense. You may be better off hiring a stranger.

Good luck!

Leo

[djnori]

mmmmhhh...

If you are in America, there are probably some chinese immigrants or visitors out there, and you can always attempt to strike a conversation with them. Try to express yourself as you would in English, instead to saying a few random phrases here and there. Or simply turn on the Chinese radio or movie and repeat after the actor/TV presenter.

[Madot]

Well, Strawberries, interesting question. As a language teacher (presently in BJ but as a Chinese language STUDENT), I count as 'speaking practice' those activities which help a student do anything from pronounce a syllable to communicate fluently with a native speaker. Of course it is a bit artificial to separate out 'speaking' as a skill apart from listening, but in fact it often helps. Not only-- but since one of the major goals of language learning is to learn to think in the language rather than be continually 'translating' in your mind, any speaking practice which helps you to do this is very useful. SO, training yourself to think random words and then random phrases (assuming you realise the meaning of what you are thinking and saying, but NOT necessarily the English translation) is very useful. Think of a noun and add random adjectives which could describe it. Don't be embarassed to say these things out loud-- to your boyfriend or, lacking someone Chinese, talk to your dog, your cat or your pet rock, but TALK. It ALL counts as speaking practice and will be useful to you. AS you progress, of course, you will want to have conversations with natives, but if all you are up to at the moment is words and phrases, that's fine! Keep it up!

Mado