@Tony Marsh Thanks Tony, I really appreciate this approach.I also try to help my students think in Chinese rather than translate word by word, because I know that’s the only way to truly become fluent. I’m just thinking about how language families might shape this process a bit differently. For Romance languages, like Spanish, Italian, French. Those learners often share many Latin-root words, so they can guess meanings and stay engaged even with full target-language input. But Chinese is structurally and visually so different from Indo-European languages that beginners often have zero reference points. In those first stages, a few minimal anchors, like a visual, a gesture, or a short English cue, might help learners stay motivated without breaking immersion. it’s not about translating, but about giving the brain something to hold on to until it starts recognising patterns naturally. Would love to hear your thoughts on this — especially how you’ve seen learners respond at the early stage.

@Fabio D'Oliveira Thanks Fabio, I really like what you said. I totally agree that if the goal is just basic conversation or survival communication, then focusing only on speaking and leaving out characters makes perfect sense as it keeps things simple and helps build early confidence. The angle I was thinking from is more about long-term Chinese ability, not necessarily writing, but being able to recognize what you see in daily life. Since Chinese is meaning-based and full of similar-sounding words, a little bit of character exposure, maybe even just passively can sometimes help learners anchor meaning more clearly. So maybe it’s just about balancing both: keeping the focus on speaking in the beginning, but letting learners gradually get familiar with how Chinese looks too. Would love to hear how you think about this balance.

@Max Duan Still, depends on your purpose. If you just want communication, I mean functional, then there is an end. But to deeply live with the language, then there is not... I'm a native Chinese and I'm still learning it.

@Max Duan Dui