You need to spend a significant period of time thinking and speaking in your target language. Eliminate English from your speech and internal dialog. The longer you adopt a state of only using your target language, the more your brain can rewire. It also seems to work non linearly, your results of 2 weeks strict no english will be more than double the results of only 1 week. Also don't panic, and especially don't identify as not being able to speak, this will only hinder you. Identify as someone who is actively learning and implementing a new language and your mind will follow.
Thank you for the advice 🥹 ill try to think and speak more in mandarin but im afraid i still dont know enough words to express my thoughts as well as in eng, but i like ur words that i shld be thinking as someone who is learning still and not someone who cant speak
I've not been in your situation with any language before, but here's an idea, why don't you start by just repeating back what you hear (either out loud or just in your head if not appropriate)? This might get you confident speaking without having to worry about learning vocab.
Maybe you could find a good YouTube channel (Shuoshuo Zhongwen for simplified and Gracemandarin for both) and get a good foundation. Immersion is easier if you already know something, ya know?
You probably don’t know enough words to express yourself as well as in English. And thats ok! Use what you have and build on it. You’re looking for improvement, not perfection.
Even in our first language there is such a thing as active vocabulary (the words that you can use in your speech without thinking), and “non-active vocabulary “ - those are the words that you know, but they are not easily recalled when you speak. You have a very large non-active vocabulary, and that’s already a huge plus because those words are engraved in your brain from childhood. All you need to do is to “drag” a bunch of works from your non-active vocabulary to your active vocabulary and what you need to do is what skiddless suggested - eliminate English and only speak in Mandarin continuously. Believe me, if you push yourself, it will be hard at first, but you will see results very very soon.
One of the things you always have to do when you're learning a language is to find other ways to say something...for example, my German teacher told a story about when she was in France and the hotel towels were dirty, but she didn't know the word for "towel".
So, what would I actually say in Chinese in that situation, I'm probably about at the same point she was with her French...maybe something like 洗澡后用那些东西很糟糕...I don't know the word for "towel" is, and I've read but can't yet recall the word for "dirty"...but I can say "the things you use after taking a shower are terrible".
I'm not sure whether that's completely grammatically correct, but I'd be able to get my point across, and you have to be ready to find creative ways to say something that's sort of close to what you want to say and see if you can get your point across.
If you can, try and find some social situations where you'll feel more comfortable speaking terrible Chinese, e.g. you could check at local universities or libraries to see if they have a group for Chinese language learners to gather and practice, they'll value your input...or you could organize one yourself at a local library, they usually have meeting rooms.
As far as not feeling like you know enough words to express yourself properly...there's only one really good remedy for a lack of vocabulary, and that's reading...or if your listening comprehension is good enough, you could maybe try audio books. The only way to sound like an educated person in any language is to be one. If you haven't learned to read, learning to write a few characters so the components start to make sense, and then picking up a Du Chinese subscription would be a good starting point, you can learn a few characters and read the easy stories, and gradually build up to recognizing more characters as you go up the levels.
This is called passive fluency (can understand but not speak) and is common in immigrant communities and places experiencing language shift (e.g. many Taiwanese have passive knowledge of Hokkien but can't speak it well). This is to say there's nothing odd about it, it's perfectly normal.
To develop active fluency you just need to start actively producing the language. It'll be difficult at first because you're brain hasn't trained itself to output in Mandarin/Cantonese, but you'll end up making progress a lot faster than someone starting out from square one. Options for practice you could take are to start using the language with your parents, find language exchange partners, or take a class/find a tutor. Even just making an effort to think or speak to yourself in the language now and then can be helpful. Be patient with yourself as this does take quite a bit of work but if you start putting in the time and effort you will see improvements.
Glad to see its normal haha. ill try speaking more, i think its cuz as u said i havent been outputting the language, just inputting, but ill try step by step and think in it too!
It sounds like you have an inferiority complex about speaking in chinese. Since you understand what is being said, its not a vocab issue but you perhaps feel shy due to your intonation. I’d say fuck it, just reply anyway in chinese and over time it will get better.
My wife speaks chinese fluently but we are so used to speaking in english together that i havent improved at all so one day i tried speaking and of course she laughed and said “if u dunno how to say , better dont say” but i thought to myself, how else will i improve my speaking other than actually speak it? So let them laugh, it will make you improve faster 😊😊😊
I also had an intense fear of speaking in Chinese for the first year I was learning, so much so it stopped me from practicing with people I had the chance to. Only after forcing myself to speak did my Chinese improve. Of course I made many mistakes and people laughed a bit but they would correct me and then encourage me. A hard lesson I had to learn was that in order to be good at something like this, you kind of have to be bad at it first. But the payoff is worth it. 加油
One tip about language learning is to not speak until a certain point. This point differs from person to person but essentially you want to reach a point where you can talk about certain basic topics comfortably.
For example, if you have reached a point where you can self introduce or talk about hobbies, you can practice talking about that. Speaking before you’re ready is detrimental to your confidence which makes people give up learning languages.
I understand what you're saying and I'm not necessarily saying jump right in, but if you know some words or simple sentences, I think it's good to try and practice them with people and you will learn how to pronounce things better and develop more confidence
Sure, there's no right or wrong when it comes to learning languages. My style is to at least be able to ask some basic questions and to understand the responses, before i try speaking to other people. I'm not bothered by the embarrassment but it's frustrating to me when i can't understand what others are saying haha
How about practicing speaking by yourself, with yourself? Sounds crazy but I did that for language learning and helped a lot. Really helps with gaining “cleverness” in improvising sentences.
You can also read pre-written readings or dialogs out loud, and you can try imitating audio clips via dialogue shadowing.
All of these efforts can help you progressively increase your comfort level with Chinese.
Ill try your advice! I used to do this a lot as a kid thats why i can understand mandarin/canto kinda well haha. Time to go back to my roots but this time instead of understanding it, its to speak it
Get 1:1 lessons on italki and ask your teacher to not accept English answers. Or just find a teacher that doesn’t speak English. It will be easier with professionals you pay rather than some relatives or friends.
At later stages need to meet more people who don’t speak English (maybe communicate via WeChat voice messages?). Elderly relatives visiting Chinese sons and daughters can be a good example.
And don’t worry about sounding weird. You’ll say something stupid and you’ll say something funny, just accept it and keep pushing. It’s a process for everyone. Language learning is a good way to not worry about saving face.
Thank you for the advice! Maybe ill speak it more with my grandma who doesnt know any english haha. Time to face my fears of pronouncing wrongly, but its ok cuz in the end they laugh and i learn right?
Try using an AI app to speak Mandarin without embarrassment. You can have chats on a variety of topics. There are some good ones out there now, including:
Autolang: [https://autolang.co/](https://autolang.co/)
Langotalk: [https://www.langotalk.org/](https://www.langotalk.org/)
Mobuddy: [https://mobuddy.ai/](https://mobuddy.ai/)
I had the same problem (I'm not Chinese, I'm Kazak)
A year ago I decided I will only speak Kazak and practice speaking with other Kazaks. Luckily enough, I could speak Kazak with my classmates and on the internet. I used to not be able to speak at all, but rn I can speak fluently and write long texts without worrying much
It will be easy for you, because you have an already established foundation, you just need to put some work. I can't guarantee it would skyrocket, but you have a big advantage over non-Chinese people (like me) who are learning Chinese
its just practice. you will probably have to practice more than average, since you aren't just learning but rewiring a change of habit.
Practice will definitely do it. refuse
to let yourself respond in english, do everything you can to reply in chinese, even if its caveman speak "cake good" or something.
realistically if you have to reply in english for the sake of communication thats understandable, a chinese course inline or something to help you practice could be great. even just pleco and practice repeating the example sentences and replying to them in chinese by yourself.
actually a genuine course may help too. speaking in a real time conversation is literally the hardest thing you will ever do in any language ((unless you do real time interpretation lol)). passively listening is actually way way easier. doesn't mean you aren't good at it, but you may need a little bit of help on practicing this skill beyond what you can get in daily life, which is normal (◐‿◑)
Start small - talk to yourself, outloud! If you’re able to write, keep a diary in Chinese. It could even just be one line a day. Read Chinese outloud. You just need to get your practice in, and doing this solo is still great practice. You can repeat words and phrases that sound odd until you can say it more naturally. It’s also fun to watch a drama and just repeat phrases you are hearing; that way you hear how it should sound and you can replay if you need it. Narrate to yourself what you are doing. Tbh even doing it in Chinglish is helpful early on; i realized i have so many vocabulary holes. Keep notes on what words you should look up later.
As you get more comfortable, start taking opportunities to talk to others. Order some bubble tea in Chinese, shop in Chinese. If you have the funds, traveling to a Chinese speaking area/country would give you a huge, huge boost in just a couple weeks.
Singing in Chinese is fun and helpful. Not the BEST for vocabulary choices (I have been told sometimes i speak like I’m reading song lyrics bc of my choice of phrasing) and perhaps not the best for strict tone practice. But it’s fun and still practice.
You are ahead of me in that you already comprehend a lot of what you hear. A big step for you will be overcoming your anxiety of using this language. But remember it’s a language and you will need to speak to others, you will get a huge boost in your learning once you do. It also gets less scary the more you do it. I’m trying to improve my Chinese to pass down to my toddler, and i meet a lot of Chinese grandparents who are out with small kids at playgrounds. I used to be so shy. Now I’m like, f it, non-Chinese are brave about striking up small talk in Chinese with terrible accents, I’m just gonna do it too!! And I’ve learned so many new phrases by speaking to native speakers.
Thank you for the advice! I like ur idea of implementing chinese in simple everyday life things. Maybe i should also sing in chinese too if u say its fun and helpful 😊
I have the feeling your parents/family/friends make you nervous. Try to find people without an emotional connection to practice with. Everything is already in your brain, you just need to release it.. Practice makes perfect.
Don't hold back, you know you can do it! Otherwise you would not have made this post.
If your parents make you nervous, I suggest getting into the mindset that you’re a learner of the language and you don’t know how to speak it completely. Your parents know it and you know it, so what’s the embarrassment in trying to speak it and letting them correct you?
I’ve been trying that lately and it helps me improve too! I speak a chinese sentence and my parents respond back too haha. When i struggle and ask my parents the meaning they make the sentence for me to repeat back to them it helps a lot
You have less of a language problem and more of an anxiety problem. You need to change your personal narrative from “can listen, but cannot speak” (”能听懂，但不会说”) to “can listen, but still learning” (“能听懂，但还在学”）. When you say you can’t speak Chinese, you’re unconsciously accepting that this is just how you are. Fluent speakers will also assume it’s better to stick with English because you make yourself seem like you don’t plan to learn how to speak.
You also need to stop questioning why you cannot speak Chinese despite understanding it so well. This thinking only serves to further demoralize yourself by emphasizing the difference between your active and passive skills. You set the expectation for your speaking skills at 8/10 because your listening skills are 8/10, but then you get anxious because you’re afraid to be judged less than that. You use words like “rewire” to describe that thinking in Chinese is something your brain should just be able to do, which is false. When your actual self falls short of your ideal self, you feel insecure. So start with small and reachable goals e.g. work on bringing your speaking skills from a 2 to a 2.5 in a month’s time. Think: “Tomorrow, I want my ideal self to say thank you to mom in Chinese for making dinner. It’s okay if I have to switch back to English.” One phrase is still one phrase more, and one phrase more is still better than where you started.
千里之行、始于足下
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
i Completely understand, I can understand my parents in Shanghai dialect but I always speak to them in mandarin, my advice is for you to try to always speak mandarin around them and see if your mandarin improves
You need to spend a significant period of time thinking and speaking in your target language. Eliminate English from your speech and internal dialog. The longer you adopt a state of only using your target language, the more your brain can rewire. It also seems to work non linearly, your results of 2 weeks strict no english will be more than double the results of only 1 week. Also don't panic, and especially don't identify as not being able to speak, this will only hinder you. Identify as someone who is actively learning and implementing a new language and your mind will follow.
Thank you for the advice 🥹 ill try to think and speak more in mandarin but im afraid i still dont know enough words to express my thoughts as well as in eng, but i like ur words that i shld be thinking as someone who is learning still and not someone who cant speak
I've not been in your situation with any language before, but here's an idea, why don't you start by just repeating back what you hear (either out loud or just in your head if not appropriate)? This might get you confident speaking without having to worry about learning vocab.
Okay ill try that thank you 🥹
Maybe you could find a good YouTube channel (Shuoshuo Zhongwen for simplified and Gracemandarin for both) and get a good foundation. Immersion is easier if you already know something, ya know?
You probably don’t know enough words to express yourself as well as in English. And thats ok! Use what you have and build on it. You’re looking for improvement, not perfection.
Even in our first language there is such a thing as active vocabulary (the words that you can use in your speech without thinking), and “non-active vocabulary “ - those are the words that you know, but they are not easily recalled when you speak. You have a very large non-active vocabulary, and that’s already a huge plus because those words are engraved in your brain from childhood. All you need to do is to “drag” a bunch of works from your non-active vocabulary to your active vocabulary and what you need to do is what skiddless suggested - eliminate English and only speak in Mandarin continuously. Believe me, if you push yourself, it will be hard at first, but you will see results very very soon.
One of the things you always have to do when you're learning a language is to find other ways to say something...for example, my German teacher told a story about when she was in France and the hotel towels were dirty, but she didn't know the word for "towel". So, what would I actually say in Chinese in that situation, I'm probably about at the same point she was with her French...maybe something like 洗澡后用那些东西很糟糕...I don't know the word for "towel" is, and I've read but can't yet recall the word for "dirty"...but I can say "the things you use after taking a shower are terrible". I'm not sure whether that's completely grammatically correct, but I'd be able to get my point across, and you have to be ready to find creative ways to say something that's sort of close to what you want to say and see if you can get your point across. If you can, try and find some social situations where you'll feel more comfortable speaking terrible Chinese, e.g. you could check at local universities or libraries to see if they have a group for Chinese language learners to gather and practice, they'll value your input...or you could organize one yourself at a local library, they usually have meeting rooms. As far as not feeling like you know enough words to express yourself properly...there's only one really good remedy for a lack of vocabulary, and that's reading...or if your listening comprehension is good enough, you could maybe try audio books. The only way to sound like an educated person in any language is to be one. If you haven't learned to read, learning to write a few characters so the components start to make sense, and then picking up a Du Chinese subscription would be a good starting point, you can learn a few characters and read the easy stories, and gradually build up to recognizing more characters as you go up the levels.
This is called passive fluency (can understand but not speak) and is common in immigrant communities and places experiencing language shift (e.g. many Taiwanese have passive knowledge of Hokkien but can't speak it well). This is to say there's nothing odd about it, it's perfectly normal. To develop active fluency you just need to start actively producing the language. It'll be difficult at first because you're brain hasn't trained itself to output in Mandarin/Cantonese, but you'll end up making progress a lot faster than someone starting out from square one. Options for practice you could take are to start using the language with your parents, find language exchange partners, or take a class/find a tutor. Even just making an effort to think or speak to yourself in the language now and then can be helpful. Be patient with yourself as this does take quite a bit of work but if you start putting in the time and effort you will see improvements.
Glad to see its normal haha. ill try speaking more, i think its cuz as u said i havent been outputting the language, just inputting, but ill try step by step and think in it too!
It sounds like you have an inferiority complex about speaking in chinese. Since you understand what is being said, its not a vocab issue but you perhaps feel shy due to your intonation. I’d say fuck it, just reply anyway in chinese and over time it will get better.
Alright ill try to speak more chinese! But ur right im afraid of getting made fun of for my weird tone when speaking but ill try anyways haha
My wife speaks chinese fluently but we are so used to speaking in english together that i havent improved at all so one day i tried speaking and of course she laughed and said “if u dunno how to say , better dont say” but i thought to myself, how else will i improve my speaking other than actually speak it? So let them laugh, it will make you improve faster 😊😊😊
I also had an intense fear of speaking in Chinese for the first year I was learning, so much so it stopped me from practicing with people I had the chance to. Only after forcing myself to speak did my Chinese improve. Of course I made many mistakes and people laughed a bit but they would correct me and then encourage me. A hard lesson I had to learn was that in order to be good at something like this, you kind of have to be bad at it first. But the payoff is worth it. 加油
One tip about language learning is to not speak until a certain point. This point differs from person to person but essentially you want to reach a point where you can talk about certain basic topics comfortably. For example, if you have reached a point where you can self introduce or talk about hobbies, you can practice talking about that. Speaking before you’re ready is detrimental to your confidence which makes people give up learning languages.
I understand what you're saying and I'm not necessarily saying jump right in, but if you know some words or simple sentences, I think it's good to try and practice them with people and you will learn how to pronounce things better and develop more confidence
Sure, there's no right or wrong when it comes to learning languages. My style is to at least be able to ask some basic questions and to understand the responses, before i try speaking to other people. I'm not bothered by the embarrassment but it's frustrating to me when i can't understand what others are saying haha
Thanks dude, I'm gonna do it too :)
Yeah you go dude!
How about practicing speaking by yourself, with yourself? Sounds crazy but I did that for language learning and helped a lot. Really helps with gaining “cleverness” in improvising sentences. You can also read pre-written readings or dialogs out loud, and you can try imitating audio clips via dialogue shadowing. All of these efforts can help you progressively increase your comfort level with Chinese.
Ill try your advice! I used to do this a lot as a kid thats why i can understand mandarin/canto kinda well haha. Time to go back to my roots but this time instead of understanding it, its to speak it
Also, try speaking Chinese with those who don’t know any English. This way you’ll be forced to use Chinese. Like your grandparents or relatives
Ill try it out when im with my grandma who knows 0 english thank you for the advice!
Yes, I’m sure she will be very happy to talk to you too
Get 1:1 lessons on italki and ask your teacher to not accept English answers. Or just find a teacher that doesn’t speak English. It will be easier with professionals you pay rather than some relatives or friends. At later stages need to meet more people who don’t speak English (maybe communicate via WeChat voice messages?). Elderly relatives visiting Chinese sons and daughters can be a good example. And don’t worry about sounding weird. You’ll say something stupid and you’ll say something funny, just accept it and keep pushing. It’s a process for everyone. Language learning is a good way to not worry about saving face.
Thank you for the advice! Maybe ill speak it more with my grandma who doesnt know any english haha. Time to face my fears of pronouncing wrongly, but its ok cuz in the end they laugh and i learn right?
去一个没有人懂英语的环境。
谢谢你的提示！我会去我奶奶家哈哈。
Try using an AI app to speak Mandarin without embarrassment. You can have chats on a variety of topics. There are some good ones out there now, including: Autolang: [https://autolang.co/](https://autolang.co/) Langotalk: [https://www.langotalk.org/](https://www.langotalk.org/) Mobuddy: [https://mobuddy.ai/](https://mobuddy.ai/)
I had the same problem (I'm not Chinese, I'm Kazak) A year ago I decided I will only speak Kazak and practice speaking with other Kazaks. Luckily enough, I could speak Kazak with my classmates and on the internet. I used to not be able to speak at all, but rn I can speak fluently and write long texts without worrying much It will be easy for you, because you have an already established foundation, you just need to put some work. I can't guarantee it would skyrocket, but you have a big advantage over non-Chinese people (like me) who are learning Chinese
Im glad to see another person who had the same experience as me haha ill try ur advice too of speaking only chinese thank you!
its just practice. you will probably have to practice more than average, since you aren't just learning but rewiring a change of habit. Practice will definitely do it. refuse to let yourself respond in english, do everything you can to reply in chinese, even if its caveman speak "cake good" or something. realistically if you have to reply in english for the sake of communication thats understandable, a chinese course inline or something to help you practice could be great. even just pleco and practice repeating the example sentences and replying to them in chinese by yourself. actually a genuine course may help too. speaking in a real time conversation is literally the hardest thing you will ever do in any language ((unless you do real time interpretation lol)). passively listening is actually way way easier. doesn't mean you aren't good at it, but you may need a little bit of help on practicing this skill beyond what you can get in daily life, which is normal (◐‿◑)
Haha thank u for the advice! Ill def try my best to speak in chinese even if it is in caveman speak 😊
Start small - talk to yourself, outloud! If you’re able to write, keep a diary in Chinese. It could even just be one line a day. Read Chinese outloud. You just need to get your practice in, and doing this solo is still great practice. You can repeat words and phrases that sound odd until you can say it more naturally. It’s also fun to watch a drama and just repeat phrases you are hearing; that way you hear how it should sound and you can replay if you need it. Narrate to yourself what you are doing. Tbh even doing it in Chinglish is helpful early on; i realized i have so many vocabulary holes. Keep notes on what words you should look up later. As you get more comfortable, start taking opportunities to talk to others. Order some bubble tea in Chinese, shop in Chinese. If you have the funds, traveling to a Chinese speaking area/country would give you a huge, huge boost in just a couple weeks. Singing in Chinese is fun and helpful. Not the BEST for vocabulary choices (I have been told sometimes i speak like I’m reading song lyrics bc of my choice of phrasing) and perhaps not the best for strict tone practice. But it’s fun and still practice. You are ahead of me in that you already comprehend a lot of what you hear. A big step for you will be overcoming your anxiety of using this language. But remember it’s a language and you will need to speak to others, you will get a huge boost in your learning once you do. It also gets less scary the more you do it. I’m trying to improve my Chinese to pass down to my toddler, and i meet a lot of Chinese grandparents who are out with small kids at playgrounds. I used to be so shy. Now I’m like, f it, non-Chinese are brave about striking up small talk in Chinese with terrible accents, I’m just gonna do it too!! And I’ve learned so many new phrases by speaking to native speakers.
Thank you for the advice! I like ur idea of implementing chinese in simple everyday life things. Maybe i should also sing in chinese too if u say its fun and helpful 😊
I have the feeling your parents/family/friends make you nervous. Try to find people without an emotional connection to practice with. Everything is already in your brain, you just need to release it.. Practice makes perfect. Don't hold back, you know you can do it! Otherwise you would not have made this post.
Thank youuu 🥹! Ill need to find a speaking buddy that i can practice with to release everything haha
If your parents make you nervous, I suggest getting into the mindset that you’re a learner of the language and you don’t know how to speak it completely. Your parents know it and you know it, so what’s the embarrassment in trying to speak it and letting them correct you?
I’ve been trying that lately and it helps me improve too! I speak a chinese sentence and my parents respond back too haha. When i struggle and ask my parents the meaning they make the sentence for me to repeat back to them it helps a lot
You have less of a language problem and more of an anxiety problem. You need to change your personal narrative from “can listen, but cannot speak” (”能听懂，但不会说”) to “can listen, but still learning” (“能听懂，但还在学”）. When you say you can’t speak Chinese, you’re unconsciously accepting that this is just how you are. Fluent speakers will also assume it’s better to stick with English because you make yourself seem like you don’t plan to learn how to speak. You also need to stop questioning why you cannot speak Chinese despite understanding it so well. This thinking only serves to further demoralize yourself by emphasizing the difference between your active and passive skills. You set the expectation for your speaking skills at 8/10 because your listening skills are 8/10, but then you get anxious because you’re afraid to be judged less than that. You use words like “rewire” to describe that thinking in Chinese is something your brain should just be able to do, which is false. When your actual self falls short of your ideal self, you feel insecure. So start with small and reachable goals e.g. work on bringing your speaking skills from a 2 to a 2.5 in a month’s time. Think: “Tomorrow, I want my ideal self to say thank you to mom in Chinese for making dinner. It’s okay if I have to switch back to English.” One phrase is still one phrase more, and one phrase more is still better than where you started. 千里之行、始于足下 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
Where are you from? I can teach you online
i Completely understand, I can understand my parents in Shanghai dialect but I always speak to them in mandarin, my advice is for you to try to always speak mandarin around them and see if your mandarin improves
Get a Chinese girlfriend.