別擔心 I will share with you my observations and experiences 1) Learning songs does not help you learn a language. Opera singers often sing in foreign languages that they do not speak. I had a friend who could sing beautiful Italian opera songs but she did not speak Italian at all. Learning songs can help you learn some words. 2) Everybody who learns a language does exactly what you are doing when they first try and speak. Everybody translates their mother tongue into the foreign language in the beginning. But here is what you should realize: There are three categories of words in our heads: The 1st category is "My name is" type words. The 2nd category is "let me think how to say" type words The 3rd category is "I have no idea" what that means type words. If I asked you in English, "What's your name?" You would not think in Chinese "我的名字是。“ You would just say, "My name is ..." because those are the words you know without having to translate." If I asked you, "What are you going to do for Summer vacation?" Some of the words you will have to translate from Chinese into English because don't know or use them often enough. The more you use those words that you have to translate, the sooner they will move into the 1st category (My name is category." Your goal should be to move the 3rd category words, "I don't know what that means" to the 2nd category. And you also want to move the 2nd category words into the 1st category. So when I ask you what are you doing for Summer vacation, you will be able to asnwer as easily as you can answer "What's your name?" But this process will take time and practice.

When I was 11 I somehow got so curious to know what they were singing when ever I heard an English song. I developed the habit to listen to an English radio channel every night before I slept. I did not only listen to the songs no I also listened to news and talk shows. Even no one told me the meaning in German I started to understand more and more. I believe this could help you too.

Learn to sing songs in English, that will help your pronounciation and researching the song will give you more words. Singing is a very good way to learn the cadence of a new language and is a very good way to remember new words. To really learn a new language, you will have to immerse yourself in it, so you cannot easily escape into Mandarin. That will be difficult while you live in a Chinese mainland city. Are there any associations or clubs where you can mix with non-Chinese ?

dive into the culture

If you can access it from mainland China, try this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=341rybZ42vA