Despite being born and raised in the states, my Chinese speaking, reading, and writing abilities are quite fluent, and in fact my family is often surprised by my vocabulary. When people think about becoming fluent in another language, they often think about taking classes and studying abroad. From my experience though, while all of those things help, the secret to learning a language is marrying leisure with learning.
Few of us really have the time or opportunity to intensively study a language for the extended period necessary to become fluent. But, most of us do spend a significant amount of our time on leisure: watching TV, listening to our favorite pop stars, and going to the movies. And we have to, to maintain sanity, right?
My reasoning is that if I am going to watch “mindless” television anyway, I might as well be watching it in Chinese. (It also makes you feel less guilty when you’ve somehow passed a whole morning and afternoon watching Ji Cun Xi 紀存希 alternating between tormenting and professing his love to Chen Xin Yi 陳欣怡. Those of you who have seen Fated to Love You 命中注定我爱你 will know what I am referring to). After all, I can at least claim I am learning Chinese. One of my new favorite television shows to watch, and I of course justify the many hours spent watching it as time well-invested in learning Chinese, is 非诚勿扰 (literally-“if you’re not serious, don’t bother”). It’s kind of like the Chinese version of the Bachelor or Bachelorette, but way better. I won’t spoil it for you, but check it out here. Enjoy! (And learn some Chinese in the meantime!)
虽然我是在美国生美国长大的，我的中文听说读写能力都挺强的。而且，有的时候我说出来的单词都会让我的家人吃惊。很多人都觉得，要想学会一种语言就必须专门儿上课或者出国留学。可是，从我的精力来说，虽然那些方式都很有用，学好一种语言的秘诀就是用休闲的时间来学习。
大多数人都没有时间或机会认认真真地学一种语言。但是我们都用很多时间来做休闲的东西比如说，看电视，听流行歌曲，和出去看电影。我们当然有时间放松保持理智，对吧？
我的推理在于，如果我要浪费时间看一些垃圾电视，那我用中文看多好啊！（当你把一个上午和一个下午的时间都用来看紀存希一会儿爱一会儿琢磨陳欣怡时，你也会 感觉好一些。看过《命中注定我爱你》这个电视剧的人会董我在讲什么）至少我可以说我在学中文。现在我最喜爱的电视节目就是非诚勿扰（要是没诚意，就不要打 扰）这个节目就是一个相亲，找对象的节目。我不会透落太多，但是你可以在这儿点击，自己看一看！虽然我用很多时间来看这个节目，但是我可以用这个节目来学 中文！这就是我说的，用休闲的时间来好好地学中文！