#self-learning tips

@youngpolyglot

Nì Hao! I'm a self-learner, as the only offering I got in high school was through an online class that I knew I wouldn't retain much from. It's best to know how you learn. 

For example, are you an audio learner, a visual learner, or do you best learn writing things over and over again? For me, I'm definitely an audio and visual learner. What I recommend is Chinese movies (there are about fifty billion on youtube with subtitles). That way you hear the words, you can read the words, and you can see what they mean. 

Now, when you watch these, try not to focus too much on what they're saying, and if you don't understand, that's okay. Don't dwell. Then, once you watch it over once, watch it again, this time stopping at the points where you didn't understand a word, and go through line by line studying characters, the tones, and everything else you might need to learn. 

Then, once you practice those a bit on your own, watch the movie a third time, this time covering up the subtitles (I use sticky-notes on the bottom of my screen). Try to see how much you retained and how much you understood. If this doesn't work for you, let me know, and I'm happy to suggest more methods! You really just got to find out how you learn best.