i took 1.5 semesters at the Harvard Extension School and 3.5 semesters at NYC Continuing Ed. (really recommend the former if you happen to be in Boston, although it was back in 2003. do not really recommend the latter, it was OK. mostly you need self-motivation and time.)
my husband was pretty much useless: not into languages, did not really care whether I learned it or not, could not understand my pronunciation. :) your experience might be different. I once had a boyfriend who was teaching me Turkish just for fun, and he got a kick out of it...
I started out learning both written/spoken Mandarin, then got lazy and just did spoken, but at a certain point you can't get by on pinyin anymore, so it really hampered me and I stopped taking classes.
Then, once our daughter was born, I started hearing my husband speak to her in Chinese, and at this point I pretty much understand what he tells her and what she says back, but I don't participate in Chinese (when I do say something, my kids look at me weird, but anyway, I try to speak Russian with them and think it would be really weird for me to be using Chinese with them). I've also had a bunch of practice speaking to my in-laws when they come to visit (not often, but for months at a time, yippee!).
My husband tried to learn Spanish a while ago (for fun), but couldn't manage. But, again, he's numerically inclined, not good at languages, Chinese/English were his biggest challenges in school.
What's your boyfriend's third language? Does he speak Russian?
Long story short: I recommend a structured class, then getting your boyfriend to help with homework, etc. The more class hours, the better. If you can fit in the time, do the characters (these days you choose whether you want to learn simplified or traditional). Being around Chinese speakers who refuse to switch to English might also help (if you can get past the frustration).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-09-02 07:02 pm (UTC)my husband was pretty much useless: not into languages, did not really care whether I learned it or not, could not understand my pronunciation. :) your experience might be different. I once had a boyfriend who was teaching me Turkish just for fun, and he got a kick out of it...
I started out learning both written/spoken Mandarin, then got lazy and just did spoken, but at a certain point you can't get by on pinyin anymore, so it really hampered me and I stopped taking classes.
Then, once our daughter was born, I started hearing my husband speak to her in Chinese, and at this point I pretty much understand what he tells her and what she says back, but I don't participate in Chinese (when I do say something, my kids look at me weird, but anyway, I try to speak Russian with them and think it would be really weird for me to be using Chinese with them). I've also had a bunch of practice speaking to my in-laws when they come to visit (not often, but for months at a time, yippee!).
My husband tried to learn Spanish a while ago (for fun), but couldn't manage. But, again, he's numerically inclined, not good at languages, Chinese/English were his biggest challenges in school.
What's your boyfriend's third language? Does he speak Russian?
Long story short: I recommend a structured class, then getting your boyfriend to help with homework, etc. The more class hours, the better. If you can fit in the time, do the characters (these days you choose whether you want to learn simplified or traditional). Being around Chinese speakers who refuse to switch to English might also help (if you can get past the frustration).