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Learning chinese - a discouraging article | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Magyar Triglot Newbie Hungary Joined 6183 days ago 22 posts - 22 votes Speaks: German, Hungarian*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 39 07 August 2007 at 9:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hello!
I found this article while surfing on the Internet. I plan to learn mandarin in the near future, thus it was a bit shocking to read. Here's the link: http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html I would be happy to hear your opinion about it! Mark 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6549 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 2 of 39 07 August 2007 at 10:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, there are plenty of people on this forum who've learnt Chinese to quite a high standard.
I'm learning Japanese myself, and while most of his Chinese complaints (characters, cultural differences) apply, they're not that big a deal, and certainly nothing that some extra effort can't break down. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6217 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 39 07 August 2007 at 10:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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If you really want to study Mandarin, don't take seriously about what the author mentions. Just be aware of the features of Chinese that makes it more "challenging".
There is an article which would put off any potential German learners like the article you posted does to potential Chinese learners. But does that stop us from learning German? No. There are always critics and those who never see the silver lining. Don't let your aims be heavily influenced by those opinions. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Vlad Trilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member Czechoslovakia foreverastudent.com Joined 6365 days ago 443 posts - 576 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Czech*, Slovak*, Hungarian*, Mandarin, EnglishC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Serbian, French Studies: Persian, Taiwanese, Romanian, Portuguese | Message 4 of 39 07 August 2007 at 11:10am | IP Logged | |||||
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Nobody told this poor man to study Chinese, if he didn't want to.
It almost looks like he has been forced to do it. Complaining about almost every single aspect of the language.. This is bad, that is bad..all existing romanisation 'sucks', too many cofusing tones, too many strokes, too many characters.. Maybe he should get into wildlife protection instead..languages are not for him. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leonidus Triglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 6107 days ago 113 posts - 123 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, French Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 5 of 39 07 August 2007 at 11:42am | IP Logged | |||||
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There are some valid points in this article, although some of them are exaggerated. Everything is difficult before it becomes easy, you know. You shouldn't be discouraged by what the author says, take it with a grain of salt. As long as you try hard, you'll succeed, although it could take longer than it would for European languages. But then, we all like challenges, don't we! :) Hehe...
I, personally, am not tackling on the written system much yet, so the larger part of this iceberg is still under water for me. I am doing the oral language prior to that, it's more fun that way. And having fun while studying is a sure way to keep interest high. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6472 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 6 of 39 07 August 2007 at 11:56am | IP Logged | |||||
Also be aware that you can learn a different language such as French or German in a lot less time (German 750 hours, French 600, Mandarin 2200 hours). I think you should really love Mandarin and China if you want to tackle this feat. By the way, those hours were taken from the Foreign Service Institute's difficulty ratings:
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectation s.html 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| seldnar Senior Member United States Joined 6913 days ago 189 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, French, Greek | Message 7 of 39 07 August 2007 at 11:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've always found the article funny--having studied Chinese for the past ten or more years and living in Taiwan for six I can say he's more or less right. That doesn't mean I'm unhappy about learning Chinese, it just means that it required patience.
Also keep in mind that that article was published in a journal whose readership is mostly Sinologists, people who've already had to learn Chinese. Its a tongue-in-cheek look at the things we go through to learn Mandarin. BTW, the author also speaks Chinese really well. I believe he is either a record producer or talent booker in China now. The article is not meant to be discouraging; rather, its a laugh between insiders along the lines of "look what we got ourselves into..French would be so much easier..but I could never love a language the way I do Mandarin. It's obvious how much I like it, look at what I put up with." If you want to learn Chinese, then learn it. It is a very rewarding language, but it is also demanding. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6218 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 8 of 39 08 August 2007 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Interesting article. I read the whole thing yesterday :)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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