Best Approach for ABC?

[ThLiOp]

Hello everyone,

For those that do not know, ABC is and American-born Chinese, or someone of Chinese origin born in the U.S.

My question is what is the best approach for me to increase my vocabulary and understanding of Mandarin? I've lived in a household where only Chinese was spoken, so it is easy for me to communicate with other people who speak Mandarin. The thing is whenever I watch the news in Mandarin, it is difficult for me to catch what they are reporting, and forget about the Taiwanese-game shows. I barely understand any of the jokes/comment made.

So in other words, I am fine with casual conversation, but anything beyond that I begin to have difficulty. So what is the best approach for me to learn more of Mandarin?

(I've also recently taken a Chinese course in college, but the pace was so slow that I felt I really didn't learn anything.)

Thanks for any suggestions!

[kdavid]

Just because you're in ABC doesn't mean that you'll learn any differently from the rest of us. In fact, it seems as though you already have quite a head start.

Browse the forms on learning vocabulary, improving speaking and pronunciation, etc., and you'll do just fine.

[ABCinChina]

I was in the same predicament as you 2 years ago! I could speak normal conversation but whenever news programs came on, I had no idea what they were talking about. Eventually you'll realize that you have to read no matter how long you put it off. Here's what I did...

1. Get a beautiful Chinese girlfriend that doesn't speak English very well. That way you're forced to communicate in Chinese all the time. (The more beautiful she is, the more you'll be inclined to talk to her )

2. Memorize an entire character annotation system like Pinyin or Zhuyin. This will let you know which characters sound like what.

3. Download a good Chinese-English dictionary software program to look up any words you don't know. Or something like PlecoDict will work well if you have a Palm. (You'll need to know Pinyin or Zhuyin first to be able to type out the sounds you hear to get a definition)

4. Download a flashcard software like Mnemosyne to start memorizing characters. (Again you'll need Pinyin or Zhuyin memorized so you know which word is what sound)

5. For any words or grammar questions you come up with, revert back to the beautiful girlfriend you obtained in step 1!

[aprilz]

The best way is to start learning reading and writing, with or without a beautiful girlfriend.

[ABCinChina]

True...but I believe the OP is still trying to fulfill step 1 of my Chinese proficiency master plan since it has taken him quite a while to respond!

[HashiriKata]

The more beautiful she is, the more you'll be inclined to talk to her

This is quite subjective, I think. It's all depending on who you are, as you may want to do something else with her instead.

[ABCinChina]

But you'll need to say those romantic things in Chinese to her in order to do those special things such as "我覺得妳好美" or "我們結婚吧".

[flameproof]

1. Get a beautiful Chinese girlfriend that doesn't speak English very well. That way you're forced to communicate in Chinese all the time. (The more beautiful she is, the more you'll be inclined to talk to her

If your target is the learn a lot rather get a real bitch that argues all the time about everything. You will learn 10 times faster.

My advice would, watch more, and more, and more. It will come, you seem to have good base to build on.