I spent last year studying in Beijing, and I reached a certain level of fluency, but now that I have come back, I have trouble maintaining it. I read books (许三观卖血记，活着, both by Yu Hua), and go through my Anki flashcards, and sometimes read through my textbooks.
My reading abilities haven't fallen much, but it's my ability to create sentences, i.e., talking, that's failing me. Mainly because I'm not talking with anybody, can't find anybody to talk with.
The nice thing about learning Chinese is that no matter where you are in the world, you can find Chinese language exchange partners. If you live near a university, post an advertisement in the engineering or sciences buildings (or wherever you expect to find Chinese students) or post an ad at a bus stop in the neighborhood where the Chinese students usually live (in my hometown, most Chinese students live in the same neighborhood). Another place is the best local Chinese restaurant. I have a couple language exchange partners I found by posting an ad at the bus stop. Each week, we spend 1 hour speaking Chinese and 1 hour working on reading/writing academic articles in English.
My reading abilities haven't fallen much, but it's my ability to create sentences, i.e., talking, that's failing me. Mainly because I'm not talking with anybody, can't find anybody to talk with.
Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!