Like most Chinese language learners, many of my students have difficulty with listening comprehension in the beginning. If I speak at a normal or slightly faster-than-normal pace, they usually can’t understand what I say. As such, I have tried different methods for them to improve their listening skills, and the results speak for themselves —— the following method is the quickest way my students improve.
Since it’s difficult for non-advanced-level students to clearly distinguish each Chinese word, the quickest way to improve listening skills is to learn to instead listen for the keywords in the topic or sentences. Here are 3 ways I have used to help my students efficiently pick out keywords.
1. Learn common Chinese sentence patterns:
● Sentences with “是 (shì)”
Example:
wǒ shì Dora.
我是Dora。
I am Dora.
“wǒ” means “I/me”, “shì” means “to be”, “equals to”, or “is/am/are”. We can use this sentence structure to introduce our name, nationality and so on.
● Questions with an interrogative pronoun
Example:
nǐ jiào shénme?
你叫什么？
What’s your name? (lit.: “What are you called?”)
“nǐ” means “you,” “jiào” means “to be called,” “shén me” means “what”.
● Sentences with a verbal predicate
Example:
wǒ yào kāfēi.
我要咖啡。
I want coffee.
● “Yes / no” questions with “吗 (ma)”
Example:
shì zhōnɡ ɡuó rén mɑ?
你是中国人吗？
Are you Chinese?
“ma” is a question word that we put at the end of the sentences to make a ‘yes or no’ question.
2. Pay more attention to the nouns and verbs in sentences.
Normally, nouns and verbs provide the most useful information on a topic.
Nouns have four main characteristics:
● The majority of the time, they are modified by a measure word.
Example:
yí gè pínɡɡuǒ.
一个苹果。
One apple.
Grammar: Number + measure word + noun
● They can act as a subject, an object or a complement, but never as a result. A noun can occasionally be adverbial, but not often.
Examples:
1）pínɡɡuǒ hěn hǎo chī.
苹果很好吃。
Apples are delicious.
2）wǒ yào pínɡɡuǒ.
我要苹果。
I want apples.
● They may not be modified by the negative adverb “不 (bù)”.
● They may not be reduplicated (unless it’s for a “cutesy” effect, usually when speaking with small kids).
There are five main characteristics of verbs in Chinese:
● The main function of verbs is to be in the predicate of a sentence.
● The majority of Chinese verbs are transitive, which means they take an object.
Example:
wǒ yǒu yì zhī bǐ.
我有一支笔。
I have a pen.
● Verbs CAN be negated by the adverb “不 (bù)”. However, other than verbs of emotion, they CANNOT be modified by “很 (hěn).”
Examples:
1）wǒ bù hē kāfēi. (CORRECT)
我不喝咖啡。 (CORRECT)
I don’t drink coffee.
2）wǒ hěn hē kā fēi. (INCORRECT)
我很喝咖啡。(INCORRECT)
● Most Chinese verbs can be reduplicated, softening their meaning slightly.
Example:
wǒ yào shì shì zhè jiàn yī fu.
我要试试这件衣服。
I want to try on this dress.
● Most verbs can be modified with the aspect particles “了 (le)”, “着 (zhe)”, and “过 (guò)”.
Examples:
1）wǒ chī le pínɡɡuǒ.
我吃了苹果。
I ate an apple.
2) wǒ chī zhe pínɡɡuǒ.
我吃着苹果。
I am eating an apple.
3）wǒ chī ɡuò pínɡɡuǒ.
我吃过苹果
I have eaten apples before.
3. Memorize high frequency vocabulary used in daily conversation.
● Personal Pronouns: 你 (nǐ), 我 (wǒ), 她/他/它 (tā)
Examples:
1）wǒ shì zhōnɡ ɡuó rén.
我是中国人。
I am Chinese.
2）nǐ shì měi ɡuó rén.
你是美国人。
You are American.
3）tā shì yīnɡ ɡuó rén.
他/她是英国人。
He/she is British.
● Numerals and Quantities: 一 (yī), 二 (èr), 两 (liǎng), 三 (sān), 七 (qī), 十 (shí), 百 (bǎi), 千 (qiān), 万 (wàn), 亿 (yì), 半 (bàn)
Examples:
1）liǎnɡ wàn sān qiān qī bǎi yī shí liù.
两万三千七百一十六
23,716
2）yí yì měiyuán
一亿美元
a hundred million dollars
3）bàn ɡè pínɡɡuǒ
半个苹果
half an apple.
● “是 (shì)” and “的 (de)” may be used in almost every Chinese conversation.
Examples:
1）zhè shì pínɡɡuǒ.
这是苹果。
This is an apple.
2）zhè shì wǒ de nǚér.
这是我的女儿。
This is my daughter.
Of course, if you want to be able to fully understand native speakers, you still need to practice with full conversations in different contexts, using a wide variety of materials like Chinese movies, videos, songs etc. There is no shortcut, but there are highways!
