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Is Mandarin hard to learn? | ||
Tags: Difficulty | Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| gerry Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5248 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, French, Italian Studies: Spanish, Latin, German | Message 1 of 9 11 July 2010 at 12:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and was looking for somewhere to post with my question about Mandarin. For those of you who know it, is it a hard language to learn? Also, how useful is it? I'm planning on continuing my studies at university in the fall and was considering picking up Mandarin but I would like some input, if available. Thank you.
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| YoshiYoshi Senior Member China Joined 5529 days ago 143 posts - 205 votes  Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 2 of 9 11 July 2010 at 1:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Mandarin is fairly easy to learn for those who dabble in it as a way of having fun, but it's hard to learn for those who want to reach an intermediate level, and it's much harder to learn for those who wish to become proficient in it, or even in written literature. So, it mainly depends on what level you plan to reach in your mind.
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| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6292 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 3 of 9 11 July 2010 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Easy to learn if you like Karaoke or historical TV dramas.
People appreciate that you make the effort and encourage you to continue your studies. Oh, there are the issues of tones and characters. I have trouble with the tones but find the characters interesting. Electronic dictionaries make the main difficulties of the characters less painful. Pay attention to the tones. They are important. Edited by jimbo on 11 July 2010 at 1:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| gerry Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5248 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, French, Italian Studies: Spanish, Latin, German | Message 4 of 9 11 July 2010 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you both for your replies. I'll keep that in mind when studying.
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| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5325 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 5 of 9 12 July 2010 at 6:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Spoken: Fairly easy, although pronunciation is kind of hard.
Written: VERY HARD Not that should scare you off. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5572 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 9 12 July 2010 at 6:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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You won't get very far at all studying Mandarin at a university in the states. If you're serious about learning the language, then pick up a copy of Heisig or TK Ann's Cracking the Chinese Puzzles and learn the written language then jump straight into native materials. All of the English-based courses out there are such dumbed down, crippling crutches that if you're not careful you'd be setting yourself up for failure... Massive exposure to native input is still the most reliable way to learn Chinese.
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| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5442 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 9 12 July 2010 at 6:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm seriously considering studying Chinese Studies at university this autumn, so this thread is very interesting. More
posts would be appreciated. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| exscribere Diglot Senior Member IndiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5277 days ago 104 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English*, Danish Studies: Mandarin, French, Korean, Hindi | Message 8 of 9 12 July 2010 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||
I disagree. My university instructors have been excellent - they have, admittedly, all been native Mandarin speakers, but by the end of my 2nd year in college, I could have gone to Beijing and been able to interact day-to-day. I don't disagree that the greater the exposure to native input, the better off you'll be, but I do disagree that English-language based courses set you up for failure. To Gerry - I think that you should look around at various online resources and see if it piques your interest. Websites like ChinesePod.com and ChinesePod101.com I really enjoyed my Mandarin studies in college, and pursued it independently after I left university and didn't have the chance to include it in my coursework anymore. :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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