| The best way to tackle the challenge of | | | | rapidly taken up by the Chinese |
| learning Chinese is to identify your | | | | populations, and foreign users always |
| reason and motivation for learning the | | | | attract curious Chinese locals that want |
| language, as this will help you focus on | | | | to offer language exchange through the |
| the things that you should look out for. | | | | translation and dictionary functions of |
| For example, the business owner wanting | | | | the program. Virtual reality worlds |
| to learn Chinese has different needs to | | | | such as Second Life and HiPiHi have also |
| the traveler going over for a two week | | | | opened up new communication channels for |
| trip, and so you have to direct your | | | | users to interact with each other, and |
| learning to achieve the best results. | | | | several linguistic and language interest |
| Of course, perhaps a combination of | | | | groups are emerging and embracing the |
| methods would work best for you, but | | | | new medium for communication and |
| first let's look at some of the popular | | | | exchange of ideas/information. |
| approaches today. | | | | Despite all the convenience of |
| The traditional way of studying Chinese | | | | technology, any language enthusiasts |
| is to enroll in a course. The | | | | will tell you the difference between |
| psychological trigger of paying for | | | | learning the language and experiencing |
| books, resources, lessons, teacher all | | | | the language (i.e. travel to the |
| motivate the student to put in a certain | | | | country). To be immersed in the |
| amount of effort. However, learning | | | | language beats any method of learning, |
| this way can become slightly monotonous. | | | | but the costs of travel and |
| The benefit of this approach is that | | | | accommodation tends to entice only those |
| you can gain formal assessment for your | | | | who find it a financially viable means |
| study efforts, and can take something | | | | of learning, or those die hard culture |
| away from the course that will help | | | | language enthusiasts. |
| further advance your studies. On the | | | | Instead of traveling to the country, it |
| other hand, it doesn't necessarily suit | | | | might also be worthwhile considering |
| the style and pace of everyone. | | | | making friends with Chinese people who |
| Nowadays, with the widespread use of | | | | have made the trip to your country. |
| technology as a learning tool, many | | | | Perhaps enquire about how you can host |
| possibilities have been created for | | | | foreign exchange students, or join |
| those who prefer a different approach to | | | | language exchange programs with local |
| learning languages. Of course, the | | | | English language schools or |
| traditional method of learning has | | | | organizations. That way, you can bring |
| evolved to keep pace with technology, | | | | the people to you, rather than having to |
| with many institutions offering distance | | | | go to the people to learn the language. |
| or online courses or modules to tailor | | | | Anyway, which ever way you decide to |
| to individual needs. However, there | | | | learn Chinese, the important thing for |
| have been some interesting new ways to | | | | beginners is to work out your motivation |
| learn languages that are just been | | | | for learning the language (it is one of |
| explored recently. | | | | the most difficult and greatest learning |
| One of the most innovative ways to | | | | curve). When you have figured that out, |
| learn Chinese is by joining a chat room | | | | you will want to adjust your learning |
| or virtual reality environment. The | | | | style to the method of learning. If all |
| design of software programs have allowed | | | | goes well, then your motivation for |
| the use of multi-lingual input and | | | | learning Chinese, combined with an |
| output, along with speech and voice | | | | efficient and enjoyable method of |
| recognition to offer users a much richer | | | | learning, will go a long way to ensure |
| learning environment even in the absence | | | | that the experience will be a rewarding, |
| of direct human face-to-face contact. | | | | even if slightly challenging one. |
| Chat programs such as QQ up being | | | | |