After failing three times, on my third try learning Chinese I actually became conversational. Here’s what I did, which is generally applicable to any language:

1. I used Duolingo for 30 minutes every day for over a year.
2. I went to Chinese language exchanges twice a month, for a year and a half.
3. I used Hellotalk to find a great language partner to chat and do video calls with. I also used it to crowd source corrections for my bad Chinese.

That’s it! The key is consistent effort over a long time (2 years), mixing solo practice and real conversation.

Other tips:

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