Even for those who have the financial resources to relocate to China, studying abroad may just not be in the cards. This section will provide a few tips on how you can learn Chinese at home without having to travel abroad.
Enroll in a language class
Chinese is becoming one of the most popular languages chosen by students as their second language. As such, universities and community colleges around the world are beginning to offer Chinese. Search around on the internet for your nearest university or community college and see whether or not they offer Chinese classes. Anyone can enroll in local universities and colleges as a non-degree-seeking student and take language classes.
China schools
If your local university or college does not offer Chinese classes, your next step is to look around for communities of expatriate Chinese. Most big cities have China schools, which are schools established by expatriate Chinese. These schools largely cater to other Chinese abroad who wish to maintain a sense of their cultural identity abroad. These schools often also offer language classes to the local community.
Find a language partner
Many websites exist which link people all over the world together on a language-learning platform. These websites are generally known as `language exchange` sites. The objective of the websites is to link people who want to learn a new language from a native speaker. Signing up is free, and doing so allows you to search each site`s database of users. The medium of choice these days seems to be Skype.
A language exchange works by each party spending time teaching the other party their native language. If you wanted to learn Mandarin, for example, you would find a native Chinese speaker (you can choose one who is from northeast China) and contact them through the website. You would then agree on a time to meet via Skype. If you arranged to chat for one hour, you would teach your language partner English for half an hour, and they would teach you for the other half hour.
Language exchanges are a great idea for meeting new friends, learning about different cultures, and, of course, practicing your new language skills.
Movies, TV, podcasts and online communities
There are countless resources online for learning Mandarin. Chinese websites like YouKu and Funsion allow you to stream TV and movies in Mandarin. The largest (and, in our opinion, best) podcast website is ChinesePod. You can also find a great Chinese-learning community at Chinese-forums.
In the follow section, we will look at how best to practice the speaking and listening skill sets.
Learn Mandarin Part 7: Speaking and Listening