How to Speak Chinese Fluently: Top Tips for Learners of Any Level

People from China can't detect that I'm not Chinese.

I don't possess an innate gift for languages. I was a typical student who, in initial classes, had difficulties with pinyin and tones just like my peers.

What I do possess is a methodical strategy that delivers results, and I believe that anyone who uses it can also achieve fluency in speaking Chinese.

I developed my method after participating in two summer language programs in China: Duke Study in China and Princeton in Beijing (PiB). These were demanding programs, but they provided the essential groundwork I needed to become a self-assured, fluent Mandarin speaker.

1. Cultivate the right mindset

This forms the base for all your Chinese learning efforts.

Acquiring any language demands significant discipline because it feels unnatural. It's different from what you're accustomed to. You'll need to dedicate considerable time concentrating on your weaknesses while coping with delayed rewards.

The most effective way to tackle these obstacles is to ensure you have the correct attitude about learning to speak Chinese. You should aim to:

• Recognize that errors are a normal part of the process. Particularly at the start, the language will seem like a random assortment of sounds and symbols to you. Making mistakes is how you start to understand it.
• Adjust how you gauge your progress. Rather than viewing perfection as the goal, change your perspective and consider mistakes as signs of advancement. If you cease making errors, you're no longer getting better!
• Realize that achieving fluency in Chinese is simply a question of time. Just as friction gradually smooths a rough stone, learning to speak Chinese well involves a similar process of identifying and refining your rough spots.

Need more persuasion?

An article from the well-known Fluent in 3 Months blog talks about how perfectionism is a poor trait for those learning languages. A post on Hacking Chinese offers some excellent, specific methods to help you become more open to feedback. And another piece on the Lingflix blog clarifies why Mandarin isn't actually as hard as many believe.

2. Understand pinyin and tones

Even if your goal isn't to read or write Chinese characters, you'll still need to learn pinyin, the Romanized form of the Chinese language.

Pinyin is the tool you'll use to learn Mandarin sounds and pronunciation, utilizing the familiar Latin alphabet.

Next, you'll need to master tones. They're crucial for learning how to speak Chinese. Just look at these variations of ma—you can select the characters to hear how the tones alter the sound of each word:

• 妈 (mā) — mother
• 麻 (má) — hemp
• 马 (mǎ) — horse
• 骂 (mà) — scold
• 吗 (ma) — particle indicating a question

Each of these words is pronounced with subtle tonal variations and carries completely different meanings. You certainly don't want to mistakenly refer to your mother as a horse, so understanding how tones function and their significance is essential.

English speakers are accustomed to words that sound phonetically distinct. Mandarin doesn't have this feature. Tones are the secret to speaking understandable Chinese.

It can be challenging to grasp initially if you speak English or another non-tonal language, but, as with anything, consistent practice leads to improvement.

3. Gather the right learning materials

Learning how to speak a language is not the same as learning to read and write it—especially for a language like Mandarin. The resources you require for learning 汉字 (hàn zì), or Chinese characters, will be different from those you need for developing your Chinese speaking and listening skills.

To enhance your spoken Mandarin, you basically just need a simple notebook and access to Chinese video or audio material.

When I began learning the language, I used two different notebooks for practice. One was for practicing pinyin alongside the corresponding hanzi, and the other was for constructing sentences using only pinyin, allowing me to practice my speech.

You can do the same. Populate this second notebook with phrases commonly used in daily life, as well as expressions that you personally use frequently.

A fantastic method to acquire many new phrases is by watching videos! One of my preferred listening resources is Chinese-language television series.

For instance, I managed to grasp tones and the pace of Mandarin speech by watching the Taiwanese TV drama “惡魔在身邊” (è mó zài shēn biān) — “Devil Beside You.” And by “watch,” I mean I consumed the entire series in one week!

Although it was entertaining and a result of my lack of restraint, that week turned out to be immensely educational. Speaking Mandarin transitions from being theoretical to practical when you hear others using it.

When using videos to develop speaking skills, you can practice language shadowing. This involves attempting to imitate what the person on screen says as precisely as possible—and it can be extremely helpful for making your Chinese speech sound more natural. You can learn more about the practice of shadowing here.

So, to summarize, the "right materials" essentially means a notebook and some engaging audio content that you like listening to.

If native Chinese media feels a bit daunting, you can watch Chinese-dubbed versions of content you've already seen to make listening practice more accessible. Consider this "Fresh off the Boat" clip from our YouTube channel as an example:

If this type of video suits you, you'll discover similar content on the Lingflix program.

4. Immerse yourself in the language and culture

In both of my programs at Duke and PiB, students were obliged to sign a pledge on the first day of class. You promise that you will not speak any English for the duration of the program, each lasting two months.

Naturally, not everyone adheres to the pledge completely.

But I was determined to maximize my time in China, so I strictly followed my pledge. I never spoke English to anyone in the program. I never spoke English to anyone on the phone (I could reconnect with my friends later). I even avoided reading or listening to any English news!

I didn't yield even when our class went to karaoke and everyone began singing Backstreet Boys songs. I remained true to the pledge: Speak only Chinese.

So it was essentially complete immersion. All input my brain processed was in Chinese.

This not only enabled me to gain a more profound understanding of the language itself but also of the culture. Language and culture are deeply interconnected, and in nearly every situation, learning more about one allowed me to simultaneously learn more about the other.

And if you're aware of the advantages of immersive learning, that meant all of my Mandarin abilities—including speaking—advanced significantly.

5. Speak Chinese as often as possible

When you're in class or spending time with your Chinese friends, you must attempt to converse frequently. It's a vital practice for learning how to speak Chinese fluently.

There are two incredibly valuable functions of speaking the language as much as you can:

• Speaking frequently reinforces your knowledge of difficult words and phrases.
• Making errors when you speak reveals your areas for improvement so you can work on them.

A natural conclusion arises from these two points: Don't squander time on vocabulary and phrases you already know well.

Make a conscious effort to converse using Chinese words that you're not familiar with and that feel uncomfortable. This way, you can learn how they function with the contextual understanding required to solidify them in your memory.

And, if you don't have enough people around to speak Mandarin with, have conversations with yourself!

Try this simple daily exercise: Begin thinking in Chinese the moment you wake up. Actively compel your brain to translate all your thoughts into Chinese. Even the most basic things (like, 我起床了 (wǒ qǐ chuáng le) — I got up) will assist you in processing the language.

After training yourself to think in Chinese, start describing your day aloud. Yes, do it! You might not typically say "I got out of bed" in English, but remember—you're acquiring a new language just as a child would.

As you carry out your daily routines, narrate what you're doing and thinking about out loud in Mandarin. Talk to your pets. While listening to the news or radio, reply to the commentators. Doing a household task? Talk about it!

And once you're at ease speaking to yourself, why not locate a language partner?

6. Prepare for any conversation topic

If you intend to speak frequently, particularly with others, you'll need to be ready for the subjects you might discuss.

That doesn't mean you need to know every potential vocabulary word that could arise, though. In fact, a key component of fluency in a language is the ability to work around hurdles you encounter.

If you get hung up on every single word you wish to say, you won't sound very fluent. But, if you can paraphrase these words, the listener might not realize you didn't know it. They might even intuitively supply the missing word for you.

Practice this by explaining words in Chinese without actually stating them! This will ready you for a vocabulary emergency. You can read more about how to practice this here.

Sometimes, you can direct the conversation's flow and stick to topics you have the vocabulary for. To truly be able to speak comfortably in any scenario, however, you'll still need a wide range of vocabulary.

Again, fluency involves being able to discuss various subjects with relative ease. To reach this, you will need to practice speaking about different topics and learning at least the key vocabulary terms needed to talk about them.

Throughout the day, you can note down different subjects in a notebook or on flashcards. Focus on uncovering topics that you have limited or no knowledge about in Mandarin.

Select a new topic to address daily or weekly and then orient your language study toward that topic. Native speakers have had a lifetime to practice, certainly, but you can cover substantial ground by starting now and reviewing regularly.

7. Target your mistakes from the beginning

Speaking a lot implies you're going to make plenty of errors. (This is positive, remember?)

However, merely making mistakes is insufficient to enhance your Chinese speaking skills.

What you truly require is someone to give constructive feedback about your mistakes—promptly, if feasible. Ideally, that feedback would come from an enthusiastic, relentless, encouraging Chinese teacher who is by your side constantly and attentively highlights every error.

You can get the next best option by locating a tutor online. For instance, Verbling is one of the most highly suggested platforms for finding the ideal language teacher for your requirements. You can sort through numerous language teachers and find the tutor who suits you best.

When you search, you can do so by price, availability and even the other languages they speak—so if your first language is Spanish or German, you can find a Chinese teacher to instruct you in that language. Additionally, Verbling's technology makes accessing tutoring sessions particularly seamless since you can join them directly through the site.

You can certainly address mistakes independently as well, with the aid of learning resources and programs.

It's crucial to recognize, however, that there are various types of mistakes, and not all tools are equally effective in providing feedback for each kind. Here are a few common errors made by language learners:

• Recall: Sometimes you simply have difficulty recalling a word. In this case, most flashcard programs are adequate for helping you correct these mistakes.
• Grammar, diction and word choice: You can utilize authentic Mandarin resources like movies, TV and podcasts to observe and listen to native Chinese speakers use the language. This is a superb way to refine your word choice and usage, improve your diction and gain a better understanding of grammar.
• Pronunciation: This can be difficult to correct. Again, a tutor or language partner would be perfect, but if that's not possible for you, many websites have speech recognition technology that purports to give feedback on pronunciation issues.

Each time you identify these kinds of errors, you'll need to ensure that you know the correct answer in each case. You'll also need to make sure that you review them at the appropriate time.

For me individually, pronunciation was the most challenging aspect. Especially because if I attempted to ask someone who wasn't a teacher, I had to inquire repeatedly: "What am I saying incorrectly?" The first few times, they'd say, "Nothing!" And then finally, after persisting, they'd say, "OK, if you really want to know…"

If this occurs to you, you can examine our complete Chinese pronunciation guide, try practicing with some tongue twisters or focus on Chinese vowels (which are often a major challenge).

8. Learn filler phrases

It is feasible to simulate fluency if you truly desire to, especially if you have some influence over the topic choice, as we discussed earlier. Simply learn a few phrases to shift the topic to one where you have something meaningful to contribute, then continue with a story.

For example, if you're learning Chinese for career reasons, concentrate on key Chinese phrases associated with business. If you're intrigued by Chinese culture, learn how to discuss the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival or Qingming Tomb Sweeping Festival.

This approach means you'll need to take charge of the conversation and guide it toward a subject you're familiar with.

This isn't always simple, of course. Occasionally, we don't think as fast as we speak, which often causes us to stumble.

Thankfully, there are many phrases that have little meaning but simply serve to give you time to think. We do this in English constantly ("I mean," "like," "you know," etc.), and Mandarin speakers are no different.

So when you listen to native Chinese speakers, pay attention and learn the phrases they use in this manner. You'll hear the equivalents of expressions like, "What you said is very interesting, but…" or "I think that depends on…"

Even briefer phrases ("I think," "in my opinion") can grant you a few additional seconds to formulate your thoughts in Mandarin.

The idea is that when you know several dozen phrases like this and can employ them fluently, you'll get an opportunity to eliminate some pauses from your speech while still having a moment to determine how you want to reply.

Instead of becoming quiet for five seconds or emitting a long "ummmm," you'll fill that pause with proper Chinese.

9. Give yourself credit

If you're going to take away only one thing from this post, let it be this: Your Mandarin might never be flawless, but that doesn't mean you should quit.

If you're an adult learning a second language, even if you immerse yourself in that language for years, you might still possess an accent or you might express certain things in a manner that reveals you're not a native speaker.

For instance, native Mandarin speakers (as well as Japanese) often cannot readily differentiate between "r" and "l" sounds in English because they're phonemes that are very challenging to alter in the mature brain. Similarly, native English speakers can't always acquire foreign phonemes easily either.

Learning how to speak Chinese is going to continually amaze you, at every stage. Even if you master sentence structure, word order and tones, you'll still come across phrases in Mandarin that don't seem to make any sense.

And that's fine!

Mandarin Chinese is statistically one of the most challenging languages (for native English speakers, especially)—if not the most difficult of all.

It's important to be patient with yourself if you encounter obstacles—learning any language has its tough periods!

Those are my top suggestions for learning to speak Mandarin fluently!

There's no better time than now, so implement these strategies today and I'm confident you'll observe outcomes sooner than you think.

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