Learn Chinese in 5 Min

What?! You want to learn Chinese in 5 min? A simple solution would be to see if you can learn Chinese in 5 minutes, but since you didn’t even take the time to type out the word “minutes,” I can see that you are in a hurry! Although patience is a virtue, I do understand the urgency of beginning your journey of learning Chinese as soon as possible, so let’s begin!

1. Have you surrounded yourself with the language? If not, do this first!  (See it’s easy to learn Chinese)!

2. Have you started repeating all the Chinese you hear? If not, start NOW!

3. Do you know what the fundamentals are?  (Hopefully, you’ve been doing some great singing)!

Learn Chinese in 5 Min through Conversation

If you’ve completed the above three tasks, you are now ready for a lesson so that you can learn Chinese in 5 min! Sit back, and put on your thinking cap! You’ll see a few variations of a conversation in Pin Yin–the phonetic equivalent to an alphabet.

A: Ní hăo!  (Practice, sing, practice, and sing until it is spoken very naturally)!

B: Ní hăo!

A: Nĭ chī fàn le ma?

B: Wŏ hái méi yŏu.

OR

B: Wŏ chī guò le.  Xiè xiè.

A: Nĭ chī guò le ma?

B: Méi yŏu.

OR

B: Chī guò le.  Xiè xiè.

Learn Chinese in 5 Min through Culture

Notice FIRST that the most natural question to ask someone after you’ve said hello, is whether or not they have already eaten. This is an important part of culture that centers on food (and may have something to do with a long history without an abundance of food).

If you haven’t eaten, the offerer may feel obligated to give you something to eat. Then, depending upon your relationship with them, you may cause them to go to much trouble in order to prepare something for you to eat! As a general rule, this is only a polite inquiry into your well being. It is easiest to say that you have already eaten. If the offerer is intent upon seeing that you are well pleased, they will continue to offer you snack or appetizers no matter what your response was.

If you truly prefer not to eat anything, then it is probably best just to accept some hot water. However, sometimes the host or hostess cannot rest easily until you have at least accepted some type of edible treat. In this case, you should probably accept a small portion of whatever is being offered to you and just savor it slowly (not consume it entirely) so that you will not be offered more. Once you have thanked your host several times over, both you and your host can finally rest peacefully through the conversation.

Now that you’ve listened, repeated, learned a little about culture, and finally know what you are saying, you’ll be ready for the next lesson in Chinese! Continuing to learn Chinese in 5 min daily will help you in learning the language!