Chinese Lessons Online - Why Learning Mandarin isn't as difficult as you think

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Chinese lessons online

Why Mandarin Chinese isn’t as difficult as you think


(http://rocket-chinese-review.com/)

First things first...• Where is this coming from?

• I’m a native speaker of English and Chinese

• Wanna shed a bit on learning Chinese

A (bigger) pic of me! :)(I’m from HK, btw)



First things first...

• Address 2 main questions today, e.g.

• Why do people think Chinese is difficult?

• Any ways to make it easier to learn?



Why Mandarin is hard




• The language isn’t hard

• Grammar is much simpler than English

• Very predictable rules

• Few exceptions too! (e.g. spelling, conjugations, phrasal verbs, etc. A LOT to learn here)




• So why do people think it is?

• 3 reasons, really




• Reason 1: Characters

• The most complex writing system across all languages

• Every character is unique

• More than 100,000 characters

• English only has 26!




• Reason 2: Literature

• Literary flair

• Study a year of Chinese - still find Chinese newspapers difficult to read

• Study half a year of English, you’re breezing through English newspapers



Why Mandarin is hard• Chinese novels are ridiculously difficult

to read

• Intricate shades of meaning impossible to derive unless you are taught or native

• Lots of cultural inferences that confuse even native speakers

• With English, you can derive meaning of imagery, plot, characters bit by bit and build up




• Reason 3: Writing

• Question at hand isn’t difficulty...

• ...but one of standards

• Chinese writing = grossly higher standards than English



Why Mandarin is hard• Chinese people are perfectionists here

• Not only does it have to be technically correct

• Can’t use substitution as in English (e.g. He’s really nice - just replace nice with decent to give variety) - descriptors + nouns are fixed

• Also have to be rhythmic (i.e. it sounds structured, e.g. Part A; Part B. The structure of these have to be symmetric.)



Why Mandarin isn’t hard



Debunking these myths• Reason 1: Characters system

• Biggest debunker...scope!

• 100k words in existence...do you need ‘em all?

• Probably not...

• So how many?

• Only 1,200 words!



Debunking these myths• Reason 2: Literature

• It takes a while longer to understand newspapers

• But why?

• Not to do with a lack of technical proficiency, but cultural discrepancies

• True that learning curve is steeper, but only in the beginning



Debunking these myths

• Literature, poems, archaic Chinese is very difficult to decode + almost like learning Chinese v2.0

• But do you need it?

• Probably not...okay to skip it and come back to it if interested



Debunking these myths

• Reason 3: Writing

• Practice makes perfect

• Isn’t that how you learnt English writing as well?

• Always the most difficult aspect of any language

• Because it takes time



Debunking these myths• Ask yourself - what proficiency do you need?

• Emails / SMS (friends) - pretty easy

• Technical reports (business / job) - fairly easy

• Newspaper / magazine / editorial reviews - moderate difficulty

• Novelist - very tough

• Write in archaic Chinese - reserved for the erudite folks



Ways to make Mandarin easier



Making Mandarin easier

• These might sound strange, but I think you need these

• (1) Understanding of structure

• (2) A plan




• What’s structure?

• How the language works, i.e.

• (1) The pinyin system

• (2) Basic grammar counterparts (to your native language)

• (3) Stroke order




• (4) Radicals (positioning and meaning)

• (5) Functional vocabulary



Making Mandarin easier• As you can see, I advocate a spoken

based strategy

• I order the four “pillars” of language this way

• Speaking

• Listening

• Reading

• Writing




• A plan?

• Be very realistic about how much time you have each day

• Be consistent

• Best if you have a tutor / course to guide you through

• Example on next slide



Month Goals Tasks

1 PinyinMaster all 400 sounds of

pinyin

2Strokes + radicals

Learn 12 strokes, 10 stroke rules, and 40 most commonly

used radicals

3Basic

grammar

Learn 15 Chinese grammar points + compare to English

4Basic

grammarLearn 15 more Chinese

grammar points

5Common

expressionsLearn 2 - 3 phrases a day

6 VocabularyStart reading to increase

vocabulary




• Do I recommend a tutor?

• Yes...and no

• Yes for when you’re more advanced

• Great to get real time, instant feedback

• More fun!




• No because...

• The problem isn’t in the idea...it’s in finding a compatible one

• Great Chinese + Bad English?

• Great English + Bad Chinese?

• Great Chinese + English + bad attitude?




• Bilingual + doesn’t know how to teach?

• Chinese + English + bad pronunciation?

• ...you get the idea.




• Seen LOTS of those

• Not to be perfect, but difficult to find a good tutor.

• Main reason is because Chinese culture is fundamentally very different to Western culture

• Difficult to establish equal grounds




• Learning by yourself?

• I recommend this for the basics (beginners to intermediate)

• Cover a LOT more ground on your own (basics are always easy to grasp and very little room for error)




• What about resources?

• I recommend online, but feel free to stick to books if you like the tangible feel better!

• Click below to read my review of Rocket Chinese, an online Chinese course - I’ve posted a video demo + video review + textual review



Conclusion



Conclusion

• Mandarin isn’t difficult to learn

• If you aren’t aiming to be the next Du Fu of China

• If you’re looking to use Chinese to make friends

• If you’re looking to talk in Chinese in daily social situations



For more tips on Chinese culture, learning and my recommended resources, please visit

http://rocket-chinese-review.com/



谢谢！(Thanks!)

Chinese Lessons Online - Why Learning Mandarin isn't as difficult as you think

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Chinese Lessons Online - Why Learning Mandarin isn't as difficult as you think