What is the most effective way to learn Chinese?

Question

I&rsquo;m aware of language learning apps but nothing quite sticks.I&rsquo;m looking to become conversational as efficiently and effectively as possible. I&rsquo;m living in the US and know no one who speaks Chinese.

WheelsAtLarge · Accepted Answer

Learning any language is a matter of retaining the words you learn. The best way is to ingest a word and then recall it when needed. That's why conversation is so useful for learning a language. It forces you to recall words as needed constantly.
Short of that a learning course where you hear the word and then you are asked to repeat it and later recall it will work. A question and answer session will help you retain what you learn. Pimsleur uses that method. But remember you can't just listen you need to be engaged and make sure that you are paying attention to what they are teaching you. You have to put in the effort.
Additionally, watching movies in Chinese will help immensely. The other day I heard a lady that was being interview that said she learned English by watching English language movies only. I have no doubt that it can happen with Chinese too. But you have to be active in your learning. Listen and try to understand. What you hear and can't understand, you need to look up. You can't just hope that you will absorb the language.

dgunay · Answer

Outside of talking to people, helpful things I did to get to a basic level: anki flash cards, Language Reactor extension + watching donghua on Netflix with Chinese+pinyin+English subs at the same time, writing journal entries (if you can even pay someone to review them for mistakes that would help, or chatgpt might do a serviceable job).

eva_cananim · Answer

Perhaps you can find people to talk to using your choice of video conferencing app?

gregjor · Answer

Live in China. Immerse yourself.