ChineseClass101.com Blog

In this mini lesson, we teach you some  ‘titles’ you will frequently come across in Chinese.

Some titles are used for family members.  The reference point for those older or younger is oneself.  Other titles are used for people with certain positions or occupations.  Others are more like terms of endearment.  This week we started with family members:

• In the family:  ‘lil bro:  弟弟  (dìdi) – younger brother
• In the family:  big bro:  哥哥  (gēge) – older brother
• In the family:   big sis:  姐姐  (jiějie) – older sister
• In the family:  ‘lil sis:  妹妹(mèimei) – younger sister
• In the family:  mommy dearest:  妈妈 (māma) – mom
• In the family:  dad knows best:  爸爸 (bàba) – dad
• In the family:  not kissing cousins:  表哥(biǎogē) – older male cousin

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Hello Listener,

Can kids learn Chinese? Of course! They’re the fastest learners around!

But do they? Not unless there’s a native Chinese speaker in the family. Language experts say children learning a second language enjoy cognitive advantages over those that do not.

So, if you need a way to learn Chinese with your child start with the kid friendly e-book that’ll get them mastering words in minutes! With the Talking World iBook for the iPad, your little one will earn all the common Chinese vocab they know in English!

FREE iBook for the iPad: Learn Chinese for Kids – Talking World
It’s jam packed with 16 colorful chapters and 274+ common Chinese words for any child to learn. Explore all sorts of vibrant scenarios per chapter like rooms around the house, parks, and much more while picking up easy vocabulary.

Learn Chinese for Kids: Talking World is now available on iTunes for FREE.
Click here to get Learn Chinese for Kids: Talking World on iTunes

All they have to do is tap on objects in each area to learn their Chinese words while hearing native Chinese pronunciation. Then, there’s an easy review section and a quiz mode to test how much your child has learned.

This Audiobook is perfect for children aged 18 months to 6 years+ (not to mention adults too!)

Here’s what’s inside the Talking World iBook:

• 16 Chapters filled with 274 words covering common objects found in any kid’s world
• Easy tap and play interactive layout for fingers big and small
• Colorful, kid-friendly drawings to help illustrate each vocabulary word
• Native Chinese and English translation audio pronunciation
• Easy to read Simplified Chinese characters and pinyin spelling

You can even sample this iBook for FREE before purchasing. Simply click on any link, open the iBook in iTunes and click on “Get Sample.”

Click here to preview the iBook on iTunes!

To your kid’s fluency!

Team ChineseClass101

P.S. Get your children speaking Chinese! Download Talking Word for your iPad for FREE on iTunes.

Click here to get Learn Chinese for Kids: Talking World on iTunes for $FREE!

Hello Listener,

Every Chinese learner will feel these at some point: “I’m not good enough yet.” “I don’t think I’m making any progress.” Chinese learning fears – we all get them from time to time. What are yours? And are they worth being scared of this Halloween season?

But, before we get into the top 4 learning fears, our Monster-Sized Sale starts now!

‘Til Halloween, get 28% OFF the most effective Chinese course and start learning Chinese! Unlock over 180 hours of audio and video lessons, Premium study tools, apps and more! Basic is as low as $2.88/month and Premium is as low as $7.20/month.

Monster-Sized Sale Starts Now! Click Here to Get 28% OFF!

So, below are the top 4 Chinese learning fears according to our listeners.

We’re killing all 4 of these fears just in time for Halloween!

1. “I’m not good enough to start speaking yet.”

Here’s how you overcome it.

• The best way to get good at speaking is to start speaking from day 1. If you’re holding yourself back because you think you’re not good enough, well, that’s exactly why you’re not good enough. You need to open your mouth and start talking! But if you’re wondering what to say…
• The second way: In our lessons, you get the exact phrases and scripts for introducing yourself, making small talk, ordering food, expressing opinions and much more! So, if you don’t know what to say, the lessons will give you the exact lines to say.
• Or the third way: Learn with your own teacher with our Premium PLUS plan. You get an actual native-speaking teacher to tell you what to say and how to say it, so you truly do learn to speak with the help of a real native teacher.

2. “I’m afraid I’ll never be fluent.”

Fluency is a very vague, distant goal and focusing on it will set you up for failure. But, if you aim for small goals like 5 minutes of Chinese conversation this month, then aim for 10 minutes next month, you’ll soon be speaking Chinese with confidence. So while fluency is a big vague goal, small, measurable goals are not. You’ll know when you’ve reached them. You’ll see your improvement.

• Set small measurable goals that you can achieve.

Also, it’s just a matter of time.

The longer you stick with learning a language…the better you get.

3. “I’m afraid that I’m not making any progress.”

There are two things you can do right now:

• First, use the ChineseClass101 Dashboard to track your progress. Our Dashboard shows how much you’ve accomplished based on the Chinese lessons you’ve completed.
• Second, try a harder lesson. You might not understand it, but you will in minutes. The lessons come with translations. Our Chinese teachers explain everything. THEN, you’ll be making progress because you now understand something you didn’t minutes ago.

4. “I’m afraid of not understanding anything I hear.”

This is a very common fear among language learners. To beat this…

• Simply read along with the Line-by-Line or PDF Lesson Notes. By reading along, you’ll instantly understand all of the Chinese you hear. This is the fastest way to understand every single word you hear and boost your listening skills.
• Hear the lines again and again with the Line-by-Line. Or, if you’d like to hear a certain line of the dialogue again, listen to it as many as times as you want until you can pick it apart. Still not sure?
• Slow the Chinese conversation with the lesson player. Although our teachers slow the conversation down for you, you can also slow down the lesson speed to hear it in super-slow mode.
• And for real-life situations? Learn useful phrases like “Can you say it slower?,” “Can you say it in simpler words?” or even “I don’t understand.” Check out our Survival Phrases series for must-know phrases like this. Know these and you’ll be able to ask a native speaker to slow down and explain what they mean.

And if you want to start mastering Chinese with effective lessons, tools, apps and more… take advantage of the Monster-Sized Sale ‘til October 30th, 2015!

Click here to learn Chinese and get 28% OFF Basic or Premium!

Get 28% OFF Basic or Premium and unlock all of the following at ChineseClass101:

• Exclusive! App for iPhone, iPad and Android to Learn on the Go
• 1,050+ Audio & Video Lessons by Real Teachers
• PDF Lesson Notes for Each Lesson to Read Along With
• Study Tools: 2,000 Chinese Words List, Smart Flashcards, Word Bank, Lesson Checklists, Review Quizzes & More
• Voice Recording Tools to Perfect your Chinese Pronunciation
• Line-by-Line Dialogue Translations & Review Quizzes
• Progress Tracking: See Your Chinese Progress Grow
• Learning Guidance: We Guide You Through the Lessons
• Feedback & Comments From Our Chinese Teachers
• 24/7 Access via Any Media Device with Internet Access
• All Resources Available in Electronic Downloadable Format
• Exclusive! Custom Lists App to Create Your Own Word Lists
• User Favorite! New Audio & Video Lessons EVERY WEEK!
• …and more!

ChineseClass101 Monster Sale: Click here to get 28% OFF Basic or Premium!

Remember, your investment is backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you’re not speaking Chinese as fast as you’d like and if you’re not blown away by the results, simply contact us for a full refund. No hassles. No questions asked.

To your fluency,

Team ChineseClass101

P.S. Learn Chinese scary fast AND get a Monster 28% OFF with the ChineseClass101 Monster Sale – but the spots will fill soon, so act now! Unlock 180+ hours of audio and video lessons and start mastering Chinese with real lessons by real teachers.

Click here to get UNLIMITED access for just $7.20/month or $0.24/day!

Hey Listeners!

Did you know that all of our lessons, lesson notes, progress tracking and premium tools are available on your smartphone or mobile device? Well, they are! With our Innovative Language 101 App, you can study Chinese on-the-go wherever you want!

Getting on the fast-track to learning Chinese is THAT simple!

Want to switch from the app to your computer and continue where you left off? You can! Our system is fully integrated!

Download the App for FREE to your Android, iPhone, iPad or Kindle Fire

Click here to download the App for FREE & learn Chinese on the go!

What’s Inside The Innovative Language Learning 101 App:

• New Users – Try It Free: Start your 7-Day Free Trial! 7-Day Free Premium Trial for new users with easy registration sign-up and easy in-app upgrading
• Existing Users – Sign In Now: Convenient Basic and Premium login and profile access for existing ChineseClass101 website users
• Download Manager for Offline Study: Hands down, the easiest way to listen on-the-go! Download any lesson you have access to with your account and listen offline from your Library
• Upgrade In-App: This is upgrading made easy. In-app purchasing of Basic, Premium and Mobile-only subscriptions available. (Kindle Fire users will be redirected to the ChineseClass101 website to upgrade)
• Full Language Library: New and archived audio and video lesson access covering the Absolute Beginner to Advanced levels
• Innovative Lesson Tools: You get PDF notes, Line-By-Line Transcripts and Vocabulary Lists with audio (Requires active 7-Day Free Trial, Basic or Premium Account). Mobile-only users also have access to these features
• Multiple Playback Options: Stream lessons over or download an entire series to study offline, on your own time
• Fully Integrated Learning System: Your lesson progress is synced between our websites and the App so you never lose momentum
• Personalized Learning: Curate your own learning plan in My Library. You pick and choose the lessons you want to study
• iCloud Sync: Never lose your lesson progress. If you close a lesson, you can return to it and continue where you left off in the lesson with iCloud Syncing. (Not available for the Android App)
• Exclusive Discounted In-App Subscription upgrades for mobile users
• Quick Customer Care: Easily report feedback and errors and contact our friendly customer support team from within the App

Click here to download the Innovative Language 101 App for FREE!

Learn Chinese anywhere with ChineseClass101!

To your fluency,

Team ChineseClass101

P.S. Want to try another language? Did you know that our Innovative Language 101 App is available in 31 different languages? Choose from any of our 31 Innovative Language sites and take your language learning on-the-go!

Click here to download the App for FREE & learn Chinese on the go!

Hello Listener,

Can you believe it? You got us to 500 million lesson downloads. To put that number in perspective, that’s 9,513 years of learning done since we started teaching in 2005. It means that you’re learning with a proven system. 500 million downloads and 10 years of experience don’t lie. So, to thank you for helping us reach this milestone, we’ve been giving you a BIG 30% OFF and two new study tools.

In this month’s newsletter:

1. Ends Friday! Click here to get 30% OFF Premium or Premium PLUS!
2. Never Forget Chinese Words with the Updated Word Bank
3. New! Stay Focused, Learn 2x Faster with Lesson Transcripts

1.Ends Friday! Get 30% OFF with the 500 Million Celebration!
You’ve helped us reach 500 million lesson downloads! As a thank-you, we’d like to help you master more Chinese for LESS. Get 30% OFF any Premium or Premium PLUS plan – that’s just $7/month or $0.23/day. You get unlimited access to 180+ hours of lessons, study tools and apps. With Premium PLUS, you can even learn 1-on-1 with your own teacher. Hurry! This ends October 2nd, 2015!

Click here to get 30% OFF any Premium or Premium PLUS plan!
(As low as $7/month and up to $164.70 in total savings).

2. Never Forget Chinese Words Again with the NEW Word Bank.
Do you find it easy to forget words you’ve just learned? You need the Word Bank. It’s your personal, ever-growing collection of words. Save words from lessons and vocab lists to the Word Bank with 1 click and review ‘em in 1 spot. And, it’s been updated with a new features for Premium members. What are they? Click below to find out. Not a Premium member? Take advantage of the 30% discount above!

Click here to learn about the new Word Bank & how to remember words!

3. Get Your Lessons in Writing – Read Along with Lesson Transcripts.
Here’s how you easily remember the Chinese you learn in our lessons. Read while along listening! Using two senses at the same time keeps you focused and engaged so you learn twice as fast. With the new Lesson Transcripts, you get the entire transcript from our teachers – the dialogue, their explanations, tips and sample sentences – from beginning to end. If you’re a Basic or Premium member, find the transcripts in the Lesson PDFs of any lesson.

Click here to access a random lesson & view the Lesson Transcript!
(You must be a Basic or Premium member to access this.)

To mastering Chinese with fun and easy lessons!

Team ChineseClass101

P.S. 3 Days Left! Learn Chinese at 30% OFF with lessons by real teachers. 500 million lesson downloads don’t lie. You’ll start speaking Chinese from your first lesson and quickly move on to mastering practical conversations. But the only way to start speaking Chinese and SAVE is to take action and unlock our proven system. Get 30% OFF any Premium or Premium PLUS plan – just $7/month or $0.23/day – ‘til Friday, October 2nd, 2015.

Click here to get UNLIMITED access for just $7/month or $0.23/day!

Hello Listener,

• Premium Plan for Just $7/Month or $0.23/Day!
• Premium PLUS Plan for Just $16/Month or $0.53/Day
• Get Up to $164.70 OFF in Total at ChineseClass101

That’s right: Even the rarely discounted Premium PLUS plan, which includes your own Chinese teacher and customized curriculum is as low as $0.53 a day! You learn and master Chinese faster with personal attention, direct feedback, corrections and regular interactions. With Premium PLUS, you’re getting your own teacher as well as:

• Professional Assessment: An assessment of your Chinese strengths and weaknesses.
• Personalized Learning: Your teacher will create a study plan based on your needs.
• 1-on-1 Writing Practice: Contact your teacher via Premium PLUS My Teacher with your questions and problems – something most self-learners never get.
• Voice Analysis to Perfect Your Speaking: Learn how to speak like a native speaker with the help of a real native speaker!

Click here to learn Chinese 1-on-1 with your teacher. Save up to $164.70!

And regardless of whether you go Premium or Premium PLUS, all students have UNLIMITED access to more than 180 hours of high-quality audio and video lessons created by real teachers and professional voice actors! We add new lessons every week and focus on facilitating communication – so you actually speak Chinese from the first lesson!

More specifically, you get UNLIMITED ACCESS to…

• Exclusive! App for iPhone, iPad and Android to Learn on the Go
• Over 1,050 High-Resolution Audio & Video Lessons
• New Audio & Video Lessons EVERY Single Week
• Lesson Notes to Read Along with Every Lesson
• Lesson Review Quizzes for Extra Practice
• Teacher Feedback & Comments on Each Lesson
• Progress Tracking Reports: See Your Chinese Progress Grow
• Learning Guidance: We Guide You Through the Lessons
• Premium Tools: 2,000 Core Words List, Spaced Repetition Flashcards, Line by Line Pronunciation, Word Bank, Voice Recorder and More
• Exclusive! Custom Lists App to Create Your Own Word Lists
• …and much more!

Click here to go Premium! Get unlimited access for as low as $7/month or $0.23/day!

Hurry – Just 500 Spots Are Available!
We don’t have enough Chinese teachers to realistically offer more than 500 spots for this entire promotion. This is why the Premium PLUS plan is rarely offered. In fact, we don’t even have enough teachers to offer 500 Premium PLUS subscriptions…

That means the 500 spots are all we have available for both plans – combined!
So take advantage. Click on any link to get 30% OFF Premium or Premium PLUS. That’s as low as $7/month or $0.23/day to start mastering Chinese. Choose your plan, get instant access to the entire learning system and start learning in minutes.

Only 500 spots! Click here to upgrade and claim your 30% instant discount now!

And signing up is risk-free. You don’t have to take our word for it because your membership is fully backed by our 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee. If you’re not speaking Chinese as fast as you’d like, simply contact us for a full refund. No questions asked.

Thank you for downloading and learning!

Team ChineseClass101.

P.S. Just 500 spots are available for the 500 Million Celebration, meaning you MUST ACT quickly to instantly get 30% off Premium and Premium PLUS. You learn Chinese with lessons by real teachers – over 180 hours of audio and video lessons inside. At 30% OFF, that’s as low as $7/month or $0.23/day. Hurry! This ends October 2nd, 2015!

Click here to learn Chinese with UNLIMITED access for $7/month or $0.23/day!

Hello Listener,

How easy is it to forget new Chinese words and phrases?

First you learn ‘em. Two days later, you forget ‘em.

Stopping to note them down takes a lot of time. You can write every word down on 100s of flashcards or in a notebook. That’s the time-consuming part of the battle. But wait! You STILL have to review them all!

So here are 5 ways to never forget new Chinese words with the Word Bank.
It’s your personal, ever-growing collection of vocab. Come across a new word in a ChineseClass101 lesson? Want to master specific vocab list? Save ‘em with 1 click and review ‘em in 1 spot – the Word Bank.

And it’s just been updated with new features! If you’re a Premium user, be sure to check it out! If not, take advantage of our upcoming 500 Million Celebration Sale and get 30% OFF Premium or Premium PLUS (click here) with this sneak peek.

1) Never Forget New Words from Lessons. You’re listening (or watching) a ChineseClass101 lesson. And you come across a new word. But hearing it once isn’t enough. Find the word in the lesson’s vocabulary review list and click on “Add to Word Bank” to save it.

Click here to visit the newly updated Word Bank!
(You must be a Premium user and logged in to access this feature.)

2) Save New Words or Phrases from Vocab Lists. Know those “Free Chinese Bonus” word and phrase lessons we send out? You can save these to your Word Bank as well for future review. Select your words, click on “Add Selected Words” and choose “Word Bank.” Done!

3) New! Review Quickly and Easily. Ready to review? You’ll find all your saved words in the Word Bank. We’ve updated it so it’s a lot cleaner and easier on the eyes. Review the words and meanings at a glance. You can also hear the native audio pronunciation.

And, you can even enlarge the words as you hover over them.

4) New! Organize and Label your Words. Maybe you want to see just the adjectives. Or just the questions. Or…the words you learned this past month. Just add a custom label of your choice to a set of words. Then, review just the ones you’re interested in.

5) New! Make Reading and Pronunciation Easy with Transliteration. The best way to never forget a word? Make it easy to remember! With transliteration, you can quickly learn the word and its reading in English. Or, feel free turn it off for an extra challenge.

Click here to visit the newly updated Word Bank!
(You must be a Premium user and logged in to access this feature.)

With the ChineseClass101 Word Bank, a Premium Study Tool available for our Premium and Premium PLUS learners, you can…

Click here to visit the newly updated Word Bank!
(You must be a Premium user and logged in to access this feature.)

This is your personal, ever-growing collection of words. Save with 1 click, review them all in 1 spot and never forget Chinese words again.

Stay tuned for even more great learning tools and features to come!

To your fluency,

Team ChineseClass101

P.S. Get Up to 53% OFF on Apps, Subscriptions, Audiobooks & more!
Our 10-Year Anniversary Countdown is 10 days of the BEST Chinese deals of 2015. Want to learn Chinese for the price of a coffee? Each deal lasts only 24 hours, then it’s gone FOREVER! Grab the best Chinese deals of the year before the Countdown ends December 18th, 2015!

Click Here To See Today’s Offer – Ends Midnight (EST)!

Speaking is usually the #1 weakness for all Chinese learners. This is a common issue among language learners everywhere. The reason for this is obvious: When language learners first start learning a language, they usually start with reading. They read online articles, books, information on apps and so on. If they take a class, they spend 20% of their time repeating words, and 80% of the time reading the textbook, doing homework or just listening to a teacher. So, if you spend most of your time reading instead of speaking, you might get better at reading but your speaking skills never grow. You get better at what you focus on.

So if you want to improve you speaking skills, you need to spend more of your study time on speaking. Here are five tips to help you get started:

1. Read out loud
If you’re listening to a lesson and reading along, read out loud. Then re-read and speed up your tempo. Do this again and again until you can speak faster. Try your best to pronounce the words correctly, but don’t obsess about it. Read swiftly, emote and put some inflection on the sentences. Reading aloud helps to train the muscles of your mouth and diaphragm to produce unfamiliar words and sounds.

2. Prepare things to say ahead of time.
As you may know from experience, most learners run out of things to say. But, if you prepare lines ahead of time, you won’t be at a loss for words in conversations. This will help you not only to learn how to say the words, but how to say them in the right context. A good way to prepare yourself before conversations is with our Top 25 Questions Series, which teaches you how to ask the most common conversational questions, and how to answer them, in Chinese:

Click here to learn the top 25 Chinese questions you need to know.

3. Use shadowing (repeat the dialogues as you hear them).
Shadowing is an extremely useful tool for increasing fluency as well as improving your accent and ability to be understood. Shadowing helps create all the neural connections in your brain to produce those words and sentences quickly and accurately without having to think about it. Also, as mentioned in tip #1, shadowing helps develop the muscle memory in all the physical parts responsible for the production of those sounds. Depending on what your primary and target languages are, it’s quite likely that there are a lot of sounds your mouth just isn’t used to producing. Shadowing can be done, for example, when watching TV shows or movies or listening to music.

Each one of our lessons begins with a dialogue. Try to shadow the conversation line by line, and you’ll be mastering it in no time.

Click here to for a FREE taste of our Absolute Beginner series!

4. Review again and again.
This is the key to perfection, and we can’t emphasize it enough. Most learners don’t review! If you review and repeat lines again and again, you’ll be speaking better, faster and with more confidence.

5. DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MISTAKES!
You’d be surprised by how many people try to avoid talking! The more you speak, the faster you learn – and that is why you’re learning Chinese. Practice speaking every chance you get: whether it’s ordering coffee, shopping or asking for directions.

Hello Listener,

You’ll want to know about these 2 new Chinese learning tools and features. They’re great for reviewing, motivation and progress. One is an unofficial sneak peek.

So what are they? The brand new Achievement Badges and the Word Bank! And… if you want to master Chinese, unlock our proven learning system at 26% OFF and get a Bonus 6.5-hour Audiobook!

In this month’s newsletter:

1. Ends Friday! Learn Chinese with 26% OFF & a FREE Audiobook!
No school. No stress. Learn Chinese at your pace and start speaking in minutes with effective lessons! ‘Til Friday only, get 26% OFF any 1- or 2-year plan and a BONUS Chinese Audiobook as a 2-for-1 deal. You get access to 180+ hours of audio and video lessons by teachers, lesson notes, motivational progress stats, apps, study tools and more. Just $2.96/month and up to $62.40 OFF. Hurry! Ends Friday, 8/28/2015!

Click here to learn Chinese and get 26% OFF. Up to $62.40 in savings.
(The free 6.5-hour Chinese audiobook will be inside your welcome email)

2. NEW Feature! Learn and Stay Motivated with NEW Achievement Badges
Learning Chinese? You deserve recognition and motivation. So, if you’re a Premium PLUS member… you can now unlock new badges as your Chinese improves. Your Premium PLUS teacher will give out badges as you complete weekly assignments. The result? You master more Chinese, unlock badges for your progress, and stay motivated to keep going.

Click here to learn about the Premium PLUS Achievement Badges!

3. Here’s a Sneak Peek at the Newly Redesigned Word Bank!
We haven’t fully announced this yet… but here’s a sneak peek! The Word Bank – your personal collection of words and phrases – is better than ever. What’s new? First, a shiny new design. You can sort and manage your vocab and phrases with custom labels. Turn transliteration on and off. And feel free to print out your entries as physical study material or export them as files! Not a Premium member? Take advantage of the 26% discount by Friday.

Premium Users: Click here to access the New Word Bank!
(Note: You must be logged in to access this)

To your fluency,
Team ChineseClass101

P.S. We’re giving you a BONUS 6.5-Hour Audiobook. Get 26% OFF by Friday!
No school or textbooks necessary to learn Chinese! In fact, you get a FREE Audiobook when you get 26% OFF any 1- or 2-year plan. Master Chinese in LESS time with this 2-for-1 deal! Unlock our learning system – over 180 hours of audio and video lesson by real teachers and more! Just $2.96/month and up to $62.40 OFF. Hurry! Ends Friday, 8/28/2015!

Ends Friday! Click here to learn Chinese and Get 26% OFF!
(Your FREE Audiobook will instantly be available in your welcome email)

There are plenty of destinations where you can get by with English, but sometimes you want to do better than just ‘get by’. Here are 6 reasons you should learn the basics of the language of your next trip destination.

1. You will be able to discover your destination better than other tourists.
Getting by is one thing, but actually experiencing a trip abroad is quite another. No amount of guidebooks and online research can compensate for a basic lack of language ability. Speaking the language of your destination permits you to explore that destination beyond the regular tourist traps. Your language skills will not only allow you to dig into all the hidden gems of your destination, but they will also allow you to mingle with the locals to get a true experience on your holiday. Think of it this way: you’re not restricted to talking to the people at the tourist desk anymore.

2. Knowing how to communicate with local police or medical personnel can be life-saving.
Before you leave for your destination, make sure you learn how to ask for help in that destination’s local tongue. Do you know how to ask the waiter if this dish has peanuts in it? Or tell your host family that you’re allergic to fish? Can you tell the local doctor where it hurts? Moreover, an awareness of an environment improves your chance of remaining safe inside it. For example, walking around a busy marketplace, dazzled by an unfamiliar language, signs and accents will instantly render any tourist a more attractive mark for pickpockets. Communicating with other people, asking questions and looking confident will make you look like a semi-local yourself, and will ward off potential thieves.

Click here for Chinese Survival Phrases that will help you in almost every situation

3. It helps you relax.
Traveling is much less stressful when you understand what that announcement at the airport was saying, or if this bus line reaches your hotel. These things stress you out when traveling and they disappear when you understand the language. This allows you to focus on planning your trip in a better, easier way.

4. Speaking the language can provide you with a way to get to know people you’d never otherwise have the opportunity to speak with.
Sometimes those relationships turn into friendships, and other times they’re nothing more than a lively conversation. Either way, as Nelson Mandela said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” When you approach someone – even staff at a store or restaurant – with English, rather than their own language, an invisible divide has already been erected. Making even a small effort to communicate in the language of the place you’re visiting can go a long way and you’ll find many more doors open up to you as a result.

Click here for the Top 25 Chinese Questions you need to know to start a conversation with anyone

5. You’ll be a better ambassador for your country.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we know very little about other countries and cultures, especially the local politics. And what we do know is often filtered to us by the media, which tends to represent only certain interests. When you can speak the local language, you’re able to answer questions that curious locals have about your country and culture. Are you frustrated with how your country is presented in global news? Are you embarrassed by your country’s leaders and want to make it clear that not everyone is like that where you’re from? This is a very good opportunity to share your story with people who have no one else to ask. We all have a responsibility to be representatives of the place we come from.

6. Learning another language can fend off Alzheimer’s, keep your brain healthy and generally make you smarter.
For more information, check out this blog post about the 5 Benefits of Learning a New Language.