How to improve my listening skills in Chinese?
The most common language in China is Standard Chinese. With that said, China is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. 71% of Chinese speak a variety of Mandarin also call “Putonghua.” There are more than 70 million people belonging to 55 different national minorities living in China, and while each minority has their own spoken language, many minority groups do not have any distinguishable written form for their languages. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world’s population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. It is a language rooted in central Mandarin, however, the total amount of languages spoken in China is 302, according to the last Ethnologue survey. This is also the national language.
It’s no secret that learning a foreign language can be difficult. Even if you have outstanding reading skills, if you are learning Chinese, you can struggle with listening comprehension. You may also sound apprehensive about speaking Chinese. This does not have to be the case. You simply need to consider how you can improve your Chinese practice by immersing yourself in a variety of Chinese speeds, accents, and situations. Passive listening is a common suggestion. Often classes and texts advise students to listen to recordings or an audiobook. The strategy means that you can progress over time. Passive listening suggests that you listen to while driving to work, lying in bed, or doing other activities. Passive listening suggests listening while driving to work, lying in bed, or washing the dishes. Active listening requires you to interpret what you hear and answer in the same way as you will in a conversation. Active listening requires you to have an active part in processing the sounds. So you can respond as soon as you hear them.