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Mandarin or not Mandarin?

  Tags: Mandarin | Japanese
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4  Next >>
hokusai77
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 6911 days ago

212 posts - 217 votes 
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Speaks: Italian*, FrenchB1, EnglishC1
Studies: GermanB1, Japanese

 
 Message 1 of 26
08 July 2005 at 2:56am | IP Logged 
Hello to everybody. Please help me to solve this Hamletic question! I've been thinking of taking up Mandarin Chinese for the last six months. I'm at an advanced level in both English and French, which I currently use for my job, and I am now focusing on Japanese, placing myself at an intermediate level and studying it every day for at least one hour. My main objective is to get fluent in the "Rising Sun" language. But, to tell the truth, I'm now fascinated by Chinese, even though to a lesser extent than the other oriental language. I'd be interested in learning the basics, just to hold some simple conversation with possible future Chinese business partners (eventually switching to English or using an interpreter for more complex interaction). Do you think it is a good idea, or should I completely stick to Japanese until I am fluent? I could devote 20-30 minutes daily to Chinese, along with my daily hour of Japanese.
Thank you for any advice.

Ciao!
Yari
1 person has voted this message useful



czech
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6953 days ago

395 posts - 378 votes 
Studies: English*

 
 Message 2 of 26
08 July 2005 at 12:22pm | IP Logged 
I would've never known you were Italian from how you write English. It's all the time you can devote, with a good method, it is said you can speak MAndarin fluently in 200 hours, so calculate that.
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victor
Tetraglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 7077 days ago

1098 posts - 1056 votes 
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Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin
Studies: Spanish
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 Message 3 of 26
08 July 2005 at 1:09pm | IP Logged 
Learning Japanese fluently will also be an asset to your business. From what I can tell so far, you only need a small "taste" of Chinese and your major target is still Japanese.

I think it's better to be fluent in one than not fluent in either.
1 person has voted this message useful



hokusai77
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 6911 days ago

212 posts - 217 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: Italian*, FrenchB1, EnglishC1
Studies: GermanB1, Japanese

 
 Message 4 of 26
09 July 2005 at 5:25am | IP Logged 
czech wrote:
I would've never known you were Italian from how you write English. It's all the time you can devote, with a good method, it is said you can speak MAndarin fluently in 200 hours, so calculate that.


Thank you for your advice!

Ciao
Yari
1 person has voted this message useful



hokusai77
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 6911 days ago

212 posts - 217 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: Italian*, FrenchB1, EnglishC1
Studies: GermanB1, Japanese

 
 Message 5 of 26
09 July 2005 at 5:28am | IP Logged 
victor wrote:
Learning Japanese fluently will also be an asset to your business. From what I can tell so far, you only need a small "taste" of Chinese and your major target is still Japanese.

I think it's better to be fluent in one than not fluent in either.


So, you think it would be better to give up this idea and devoting the additional 20-30 minutes to learning more Japanese (in addition to my usual schedule)?



Edited by hokusai77 on 09 July 2005 at 5:29am

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tlevine
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
thomaslevine.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6860 days ago

127 posts - 130 votes 
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Speaks: English*, Mandarin, French

 
 Message 6 of 26
09 July 2005 at 8:57am | IP Logged 
I'm assuming that you're already using audio materials for learning Japanese, but if have a time when you can listen to Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese (meaning you have some point while you're eating a meal, exercising or traveling somewhere), you could just do the Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese for half an hour every day while still focusing mostly on Japanese.

I'd still say that you should use the additional 20-30 minutes for learning Japanese, though.

I'm assuming you won't be learning Hanzi. Are you learning Kanji?

Edited by tlevine on 09 July 2005 at 8:59am

1 person has voted this message useful



hokusai77
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 6911 days ago

212 posts - 217 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: Italian*, FrenchB1, EnglishC1
Studies: GermanB1, Japanese

 
 Message 7 of 26
09 July 2005 at 1:00pm | IP Logged 
tlevine wrote:
I'm assuming that you're already using audio materials for learning Japanese, but if have a time when you can listen to Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese (meaning you have some point while you're eating a meal, exercising or traveling somewhere), you could just do the Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese for half an hour every day while still focusing mostly on Japanese.

I'd still say that you should use the additional 20-30 minutes for learning Japanese, though.

I'm assuming you won't be learning Hanzi. Are you learning Kanji?


Yes, I've been learning kanji since I began Japanese. I can read and write about 1,000 characters.
Thank you for your advice.

Yari
1 person has voted this message useful



czech
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6953 days ago

395 posts - 378 votes 
Studies: English*

 
 Message 8 of 26
09 July 2005 at 1:08pm | IP Logged 
Let me correct myself, 2000 hours, that's what the FOreign Service Institute says.


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