Another good method of learning is to watch sports in Chinese. This could either be watching televised sporting events or even attending an event yourself (to really get in the spirit!). This works especially well if it’s a sport that you’re already familiar with, since you can then figure out common Chinese expressions without external help. For example, if watching baseball, it shouldn’t take long to learn the words for “ball” or “strike” since you’re likely to hear them often. If you’re fortunate to be in the stands, you may be able to pick up some common cheering expressions (along with expressions of frustration if the local team isn’t doing well)! Learning about the local teams and what sports are interesting to locals also gives you lots of valuable material to engage in conversations with.

If you’re a “foreigner” living in a Chinese community, you may be accustomed to hearing the same questions asked of you all the time, and you probably have standard answers that you give out on instinct. Once in a while, you may find it worthwhile to ask the same questions to native Chinese speakers, just to compare how they answer the same questions. You can try these out on friends by asking them questions whose answers you already know. Compare how you would answer to how they answer. Along with finding new ways to answer the same questions, this can also let you correct any grammatical mistakes you may have been making.