How To Become Fluent In Chinese Quickly?

[Pianote]

I want to become fluent in Chinese in 6 months. Is there anything I can do to make it happen? Is there a website  I can go on that translates to pinyin instead of Chinese characters?

[Flickserve]

13 minutes ago, Pianote said:

Is there anything I can do to make it happen?

 

Work very hard on the language. Do you have experience of learning other languages? 

[Pianote]

No 

[Lumbering Ox]

From what I understand it would help if you just go for the Chinese characters, run through Remembering the Hanzi although some would disagree. Disagree about the Remembering the Hanzi, the part about the importance of going into Chinese characters is pretty widely accepted.

 

I've read of one person who passed HSK6 in a year of full immersion and all day study and there is some/many who would say HSK6 isn't really fluent.

That American government group that teaches foreign languages suggest 2200 hours of class time plus about 70% more for home study to reach IIRC an IFR of 3 which is About a C1 in the Euro framework which would be respectable and I'd guess functional but not fluent.

 

Fluent in 6 months. There are two ways.

 

1: Just define fluent to match your level after 6 months. Do that and you can claim to be fluent after 3 months like some people do.

 

2: Be Chuck Norris, and don't not be Chuck Norris. If you can count to infinity twice and build the log cabin you were born in, being fluent in Chinese shouldn't take very long.

 

 

[Shelley]

I seriously doubt if you can become fluent in 6 months, maybe if you work hard for 6 years.

 

If you just mean to be able get around as a tourist then yes maybe you could learn enough in 6 months.

 

Translating just to pinyin instead of characters is not a good start to being fluent. To be truly fluent you need to be able to read characters.

 

I think you should define what you mean by fluent and what you expect to be able do with the chinese you learn.

 

 

[edelweis]

Completely fluent in Chinese in 6 months is extremely difficult, considering that foreigners that enroll in Chinese university Chinese language courses in China (almost total immersion) need at least 2 to 3 years to be considered "fluent"...

 

What do you want to be able to do? read? write? have a conversation? on what topics?

Consider getting a private teacher if you want fast progress, and clearly define your primary objectives with the teacher to optimize learning.

 

Regarding your pinyin question, this website will show you the pinyin:

https://translate.google.fr/

but be aware that some characters have several pronunciations and this website will not always show you the correct one.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but its not going to happen, people who claim fluent in 6 months are doing it to promote some sales product or just basically bragging about their extraordinary abilities 

[ChTTay]

I’d set a more realistic goal in that time period. 

 

You could aim for specific situations that you want to become conversationally fluent in. Like “at the bank, in the restaurant” etc 

 

Then for reading you could aim for HSK3 level. Assuming you’re starting from scratch. 

 

Also, if you just learned pinyin you’d get in trouble as you moved beyond beginner level. It’s been discussed on this forum before. 

 

I’d describe myself as conversationally fluent. I can talk to people with ease about most daily situations. The key has been speaking everyday. Some people I’ve studied with know more words than me but then when they actually need to speak to someone they’re stumped or throw out random words. I’ve lived in China for 6 years and studied actively for 3 of those. 2 part time with a tutor, 1 full time as a student. Haven’t looked at a textbook in 2 years.

 

 

[abcdefg]

10 hours ago, Pianote said:

I want to become fluent in Chinese in 6 months.

 

Heck, you can become fluent in 3 months by following Benny's foolproof method. (Do a search here on the forum for details of how that works and comments on its efficacy.) 

 

Outside link: https://www.fluentin3months.com/about/ 

[murrayjames]

Pianote,

 

11 hours ago, Pianote said:

I want to become fluent in Chinese in 6 months. Is there anything I can do to make it happen?

 

This website has several users you would consider fluent in Chinese. They reached this fluency by learning to speak and write in Chinese, and by reading and listening to Chinese, over many years.

 

This website also has users you would not consider fluent in Chinese. Many of them can speak and write in Chinese. They read and listen to Chinese every day, and make incremental progress toward fluency.

I have been studying Chinese for ten years. I am probably in the second group. But my Chinese is good! I can understand Chinese books and websites. I can understand Chinese TV. I can speak to any Chinese person, about most topics, with varying degrees of fluency.

Impressive feats are accomplished through sustained effort, plus time. That is how I suggest you get fluent in Chinese. It is what many of us on this website have done, and are doing.
 

Do you want to learn more? Have a look around the various sub-forums, and don’t hesitate to ask further questions.

[Xiao Kui]

Steve Kaufmann did it 9 months, but he studied 8 hours a day, it was his job to learn it working for the Canadian foreign service in HK at the time. He also already had foreign language  study experience (French) at the time. 6 months for someone with no prior language learning experience sounds unlikely ;)

[Shelley]

Oh @abcdefg that's just downright mean

[DavyJonesLocker]

16 hours ago, abcdefg said:

 

Heck, you can become fluent in 3 months by following Benny's foolproof method. (Do a search here on the forum for details of how that works and comments on its efficacy.) 

 

I treat all type of  claims like the TV adds where you can get a six pack in 2 weeks by doing ten minute work out a day.

 

I never quite understand why those who wish to claim how that went from zero to fluency in such a short space of time, don't just take a internationally recognised language exam. It only takes an hour or so and would stop the debate about what their level actually is.

 

Benny receives a lot of criticism but he brings it upon himself to be honest due to his unwillingness at take any tests.  

 

[Shelley]

I think, indeed I hope @abcdefg was kidding.

[Tomsima]

The question you need to address is, after six months what will happen, will I pass a test and not use the language again, or will I be using this language long term? The question thus is not how to get fluent in six months (sorry, not possible), but how best to use six months to prepare yourself for what will happen after that time has passed

[大块头]

On 12/30/2017 at 11:37 AM, Pianote said:

I want to become fluent in Chinese in 6 months. Is there anything I can do to make it happen? Is there a website  I can go on that translates to pinyin instead of Chinese characters?

 

If you have no interest in learning the characters, I'd recommend finding a copy of the Pimsleur audio language course for Mandarin at your local library. Like everyone else piling on said, "fluency" in 6 months is extremely unlikely, but the 60 hours of lessons in the Pimsleur course is probably enough to get you to a basic conversational level in a few months.

 

加油！

[abcdefg]

13 hours ago, Shelley said:

I think, indeed I hope @abcdefg was kidding.

 

Yes, I was kidding. 

[snowflake]

If the original Glossika material was still available, I'd suggest try to motor through Pimsleur and then do the intense one month recording, transcribing, etc with the Glossika Fluency 123 material. Intensity matters though it's hard to know how much will stick.  Good luck!

[HuayangAcademy]

Becoming fluent in 6 months is very very difficult, 

If you put your head down and study full time everyday and speak with native speakers you could be well on your way in 6 months. 

 

Try to watch some Chinese TV shows and movies in between studying, 

Put some Chinese podcasts or MP3s from books on while commuting etc

 

If you can get to China and immerse yourself. 

Some people spend 4 years learning and gain HSK5 whereas some can do it quicker. 

 

A strong indicator we find is our students reasoning for learning the language, 

Do you have a clear reason why you want to lean? that can help with motivation as there are bound to be times you feel you aren't getting better. 

 

Make sure you take some time to practice writing characters as it can be a tough time if you use too much Pinyin

 

Best of luck with your study and hope you stick with it !!

[studychinese]

On 31/12/2017 at 8:00 PM, Xiao Kui said:

Steve Kaufmann did it 9 months, but he studied 8 hours a day, it was his job to learn it working for the Canadian foreign service in HK at the time.

 

I struggle with the idea that Kaufmann "did it". He is better in Chinese than most of the so-called polyglots, but objectively speaking his Chinese is not very good at all. 

 

If one's goal is to be as good as Kaufmann, its an attainable goal. If you want to get to Benny's Chinese level you could probably manage it in 3 months. One might even be better than Benny.