Why is learning Chinese so hard?
Why is learning Chinese so hard?
Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons. Mandarin Chinese (the most common dialect) has four tones, so one word can be pronounced four different ways, and each pronunciation has a different meaning. For instance, the word ma can mean “mother,” “horse,” “rough” or “scold” — depending on how you say it.
Why is the Chinese language so complicated?
The Chinese language is so complex because it has been evolving literally for thousands of years while maintaining its cultural integrity. Even simplified characters are a very recent change in mainland China and have been promoted for use in printing only since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy.
How can I become fluent in Chinese?
You can learn to speak Chinese fluently by following below tips:
- Avoid Focusing on Grammar.
- Practice Speaking Chinese Aloud.
- Start Thinking in Chinese.
- Immerse Yourself.
- Expand Your Vocabulary.
- Stay Positive To Speak Chinese Fluently.
What makes Chinese complicated?
Chinese characters are made up of strokes. Learning to write them involves not only learning where all the strokes go, but also the order in which they are supposed to be written and the direction of each individual stroke (left to right, up to down, etc.)
How long will it take to learn Chinese?
“How many years does it take to learn Chinese?” “Is it hard to learn Chinese?” According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) scale, it will take English speakers 88 weeks (2,200 hours of active learning) to reach native/bilingual Chinese proficiency.
Why is it so hard to learn Chinese?
Chinese is famous for having tons of homonyms and lack of grammar. This can make it easy to get started… but hard to get good. Especially in spoken conversations where characters aren’t there to clarify things. There are tons of homonyms in Chinese! The word “he” “she” and “it” all have the same pronunciation and same tone “ta” with a first tone.
How do I learn Chinese?
To learn Chinese, you need to learn Chinese words. For each word, you need to memorize 4 different things. The meaning, the pronunciation, the tone, the character. And really, you need to memorize the radicals that make up the character and practice writing this character by repeatedly writing it on blank sheets of paper!
What are some of the biggest myths about learning Chinese?
Two of the biggest myths about Chinese are a) Chinese has tones where English doesn’t, and b) to learn Chinese, you have to learn all those weird Chinese characters, which to most people just look like a bunch of random lines. These two notions scare lots of people away when they are tempted to learn Chinese. Unfortunately, both of them are wrong.
What is pinyin and why should you learn it?
Pinyin is actually something Chinese kids learn first at school, before they even learn characters. Pinyin helps you ”spell” Chinese words in the Roman alphabet, but more importantly, Pinyin helps you pronounce all of the Mandarin sounds and tones correctly.