well, since is for like work and stuff, i would reccomend finding a friend or someone you know who speaks good in mandarin and have conversations with each other in mandarin. And depending which part of china, you might want to remember some names for different stuff. Cuase although u can say some of the things in mandarin from cantonese, depending on where u are, those people might not know what it means. like for example "hot water". if you're just gonna translate that to mandarin, it'll be something like "re suai" but over in like bei jing or shang hai, they use "re kai suai", like "hot open water". I know its weird. sry if it sounds confusing but hope it'll help u
By Listerning, singing Listening : watch tons of mandarin oriented movie, start with cartoons if you like. Sing : Sing your favourite mandarin song with lyrics in front of you, recommend you use mp3 player or CD to do the repeatition. it sounds simple : you need plenty of home work
haha i learned all my mando from songs. and my mando actually is understandable too (er... thats subjective but still =P)
fun ways to learn mandarin would be to listen to mando music and watch mando series, but if time constraints maybe find a mando friend and speak to them in mando all the time, when you say something wrong or incorrect, ask them to correct you, after all, practice makes perfect. ^^ good luck
keepin urself occupied wit mandarin stuff all the tym - listen 2 musik, watch like CCTV-9 / Taiwanese channel / PCNE - readin the subs all the tym...to get basic understandin of wat theyre chattin bout =P - n 4 songs - get lyrics n sing 2 em - though i neva do that =P
Here is a little tip for those who knows how to read chinese characters: Try to watch more mandarin shows and series...while watching it you can look at the subtitile and understand what they are saying and practice them yourself. For those who can't read chinese, you can watch the shows and series with english subs. OR/AND Listen to more mandarin songs and sing along with it....if you can read chinese, try to look at the lyrics and then sing along to learn faster. ***Just a little tip from me....'cause that how I learned my mandarin.
best is to get an electronic dictiionary, take a class if possible and learn he vocab. i found i was bst if you had someone to practice with
Watch lots of lots of movies and listen to songs. After that you need a conversation partner to keep it sharp
I learn everyday Cantonese by watching TVB series. Besides vocabulary, I learn the modern idioms. Though, it helps to know some Chinese already. I have friends who learned mando just by talking with friends who know mando. I dont know if it's the same with cantonese though.
