Hi, my name is Nora and I am a terrible student. I’ve purchased nine or so Chinese learning books since the time I began learning Chinese. But I’ll admit to you now, I haven’t gotten through even one of them. They currently sit on the shelves of my apartment, wistfully gazing out the windows all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, I can confidently say that I speak Chinese. (Here’s proof<\/a>!) So how did I do it? I recognized pretty quickly that every time I sat down in front of a Chinese learning book, I suddenly became hungry, distracted, sleepy…<\/p>\n\n\n\n So instead of feeling guilty and trying to coerce myself into being more disciplined, I’ve developed my own approach to learning Chinese that is interwoven into my lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stock your MP3 player with learning audio<\/a>. There’s plenty available online for free and you should also check your local library. Multi-task. Are you cooking dinner, cleaning out your gutters, watering your plants? Put your headphones on and listen as you go. I chose a place that I visit frequently throughout the day: the refrigerator. Each week I tape 4 new characters to the door. Each time I reach for a snack, I say those words out loud and picture their meaning. Whenever I take the words down, I put them in a pile that I quickly review before I put the new ones up.Here are my 6 Tips for Learning Chinese without the books<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Commutes are your friend!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When you\u2019re on your way to work or school do you ever see characters you don\u2019t know? if you\u2019re short on time, use an OCR tool to scan the character and find its meaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Place visual reminders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You could also get yourself a Chinese character poster<\/a>. What better visual reminder for characters? A poster is a great visual aid that you can put in your study area, your Chinese classroom or even as your computer desktop background! You can mark off your progress with a white board marker, then wipe away when you want to review the characters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n