[jayhuang]

The easiest way to learn a language is simply to put a child in that environment, an environment where they have no other option but to learn. Granted, it's can be immensely stressful, but having been in a similar situation, I can attest that it works.

I grew up in Canada my whole life, but was taken to Taiwan towards the end of my elementary years and enrolled in the normal school system there without so much as knowing the alphabet. Spending 3.5 years there allowed me to pick up the language fluently, at a fluent, accent-less level (reading, writing, speaking, listening). While there I also learned "Taiwanese" at a fluent, accent-less level while visiting produce and night markets.

Now when I interact with Mandarin speakers in Mandarin, they assume I grew up in Asia, and vice versa with English.

On the flip side, many Asian friends who grew up here attended Saturday Chinese schools, and although it helps allow you to communicate on a basic level, most hate learning Mandarin, and thus fight it. Speak with classmates in English the second the teacher isn't hounding them, speak in English during breaks, etc. Many end up not even being capable of conversing

[rahimnathwani]

I read your comment and assumed you had no exposure to Mandarin before moving to Taiwan. Then I saw your username and am now assuming you did. But I could be wrong :)

I'm curious to know how early you were exposed to hearing Mandarin sounds (from birth?) and whether you spoke Mandarin at all with your family before you moved to Taiwan.

I ask because one of the toughest things getting started for many foreigners learning Chinese is being able to distinguish the tones when listening and speaking, and AI read some report of some research that said that early exposure to hearing another language (I think at under 12 months old) allows you to distinguish the sounds that occur in that language, even if you only learn that language later in life.

If you went from zero to fluent in 3.5 years, that's awesome. I can imagine the second half being hard but doable. I can't imagine how you got through day 1 and month 1 at all!

[jayhuang]

I'm actually of mixed origin (half Caucasian/Asian) (:

I was born in Taiwan, so I assume the exposure was there, at least from the staff at the clinic if not anything else. That said, my first language was English as we came to Canada immediately after my birth. English was the language at home, and while I had a few Asian classmates, all of us only spoke English, and there weren't many immigrants from Asia (mostly Taiwan/Hong Kong) at all. So despite exposure at birth, hearing Mandarin for me at the time was much like hearing someone speak Spanish or Russian now.

In fact, I had no interest in relocating to Taiwan and losing contact with my friends. I'd be lying if I said it was not hell; the school administration strongly suggested I be put in kindergarten so I could learn the language from the beginning just like the locals, but my mother insisted I be put in 5th grade, where I belonged. It was a major hit to my ego, to go from top of the class throughout my young life, to a bottom feeder. It was also a culture shock to many kids to see someone "white", so bullying was a huge part of my life there, but I digress.

Being forced into an environment like that is incredibly stressful, but I can't say it doesn't work. I'd say it took about 6 or 7 months before I was consistently not the bottom performer in class, and another year or so till I was consistently top 3.

So while there was technically some exposure, and probably some learning going on in my infant brain, none of it was apparent to me.

[rahimnathwani]

Wow. I wonder whether other people in a similar situation would have progressed so quickly, or whether you're an outlier. But I guess it's not a common situation, so hard to know. Thanks for sharing!