I like Chinese!

Remember the Monty Python song: “I like Chinese!” – My husband says the song is not “politically correct” anymore, so I won’t upload it here, pity though, because I found this song on YouTube and it then inspired me to start learning Chinese. Simply because I saw some free Chinese learning videos while searching for the song!

I love learning languages anyway and it was always my dream to learn Chinese. But as opposed to what other people think of me (as in: “Oh, she’s just so clever speaking 4 languages”), I do have a bad memory at the best of times and if I want to learn a new language, then I have to sit and study and study again and again until, well, one day, I generally get the idea and speak the new language. So it’s hard work for me to learn a language and not some divine talent that was bestowed onto me.

Anyway, about 2 years ago I got myself this all singing and dancing new netbook and a mobile internet connection and it was a joy to download all those YouTube videos. Now I’ve even got myself a Sony Ericsson smartphone and this wonder gadget downloads YouTube videos even faster. So I’m right pleased with my gadgets now.

You know how daunting it is when you try first to learn a new language. But there she was: Yang Yang. What an enchanting young lady, pretty and educated and such a good teacher. You just can’t help learning your first Chinese words with her:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNoOdNvdZlg

I still whistle the little tune of her introductory video to this day and say: xie, xie!

And once you can say “Thank You” in another language properly, there’s no holding back. Soon I found hundreds and hundreds of Chinese Learning videos by AskBenny! What a nice guy! The videos so well made, you can learn the words, the pronunciation, the pin-yin and the Chinese signs and the English meaning all in one video. I was amazed and started to download and watch the AskBenny videos over and over again and even started copying/writing the new Chinese characters.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7By79MNyTM

“My name is … and I am from …” And you can say it together with “Miss Shanghai”, well, there’s a thing!

To cut a long story short: I so recommend the videos of Yang Yang and AskBenny, it’s so much fun to watch them and you can watch them over and over again until the strange Chinese sounds are in your ear and your mouth. Learning languages with YouTube videos is indeed much easier than just studying a book!

In the end, I was even able to write up a resume totally in Chinese, I needed it as I thought I might apply for a job in a Chinese company. I didn’t in the end, but trust me, I’m totally proud of the fact that I have my resume written in Chinese by just puzzling together the free Chinese learning videos on YouTube! How many people have THAT? ;)

I would be glad if this little articles could inspire you to also learn languages with YouTube, it is so much fun!

Thanks for calling in!

Google+ Page – Antje Cobbetton

For further reading:

The Very Interesting Pamphlet
My Wonderful World of Words

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