Learning Chinese. (1 Viewer)

[katie_tully]

Hello all...
I'm thinking of doing international relations/journalism at university, until I discovered the three languages. Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.
I don't have an issue with Japanese because I did it as an elective in year 10, and Spanish isn't a concern...
But what can you tell me about Chinese?
Degree of difficulty? Is it a really hard language for a beginner to learn? Is it harder or on par with Japanese?

Any indication would be appreciated.

 

[xiao1985]

if u have done any asian language (namely korean/jap) it's definitely a good startin point to learn chinese... but yeh i believe it is fairly hard to learn as contrast to english, as there's like... thousands of characters constructed by different strokes at different places...

 

[katie_tully]

That's what got me with Japanese alot, a stroke or a tail on a stroke could alter the meaning of the symbol completely, which is my main concern.

 

[Jago]

hell, im chinese and i think mandarin is a tough language.

Determination is the key factor. If you try hard you'll succeed.

 

[meLoncoLLie]

from what i've seen, chinese has always been pretty difficult for foreigners to learn. speaking is perhaps alright, but it's the writing/reading bit that's the hardest. it's too different from european languages (each character is a symbol, many characters of the same nature have the same radical, a character can have several different meanings and pronunciations...etc)

but chinese is going to be the most useful out of the three...1/5 of the world population use it! plus the culture is fascinating, you'll have a lot of fun learning chinese if you incorporate the culture and history.

uh...and there was this english site i saw the other day, it introduces 'what is chinese' to foreigners, i tried googling but couldn't find it, but perhaps this will be of interest to you:

http://www.mandarintools.com/

 

[Jago]

plus the culture is fascinating

don't listen to melon, she's heavily biased!

 

[meLoncoLLie]

don't listen to melon, she's heavily biased!

you know too little

 

[katie_tully]

I've got a feeling I'm screwed
I really want to do international relations, it's just when I saw Chinese I kinda came to a stand still... As I know it isn't renowned for its simplicity.

 

[transcendent]

i've been trying to learn it for 6 years and i'm still at kindergarten level. unless you're dedicated to learning its really difficult.

 

[meLoncoLLie]

don't be discouraged! i've seen so many american missionaries who have only learned chinese for 1-2 yrs, yet their articulacy astounds me. according to them, it is determination indeed, that you really need.

 

[Jago]

some people just aren't built for learning another language (ie. me), while others pick it up very quickly.

 

[meLoncoLLie]

some people just aren't built for learning another language (ie. me), while others pick it up very quickly.

but wasn't english once a foreign language to you?

 

[Jago]

i wasn't 17 when i started learning english.

 

[meLoncoLLie]

you're pretty successful compared to a lot people i know, who came to australia around the same time as you did.

or do i just happen to know all the fobs.

 

[katie_tully]

Crisis over, I only have to pick ONE of the languages.

I think I'll leave Chinese up to the experts, or better yet; the Chinese.

 

[transcendent]

i was born in australia and was surrounded by english. i didn't see any reason why i should learn any other language so i wasn't interested.

 

[katie_tully]

I used to have that attitude. I wondered why I had to learn another language, but it hit me one day.
Aussies constantly bitch about people, mainly tourists/immigrants who come to this country but cant speak good English.
"God I hate people who come to this country but cant speak our language"

Then it dawned on me that English people have to be the most ignorant people on earth. We expect everybody to speak English, yet we don't expect ourselves to be able to speak another language. We go overseas and play the dumb tourist, yet when it's in our own backyard we get uptight about it.

So when people say 'dont you hate it when they cant speak english', i reply 'no... what other language do you speak?'

 

[xiao1985]

@kt: =) brilliant =)

 

[bLu3_gRaSS]

I grew up in Australia and only spoke cantonese only until I was about 7 and continued to speak it until now. But for some unknown reason I apparently have an accent even though i learnt from my parents who don't have accents. Despite learning chinese for years...i still suck. I think the hardest part of chinese is writing it.

I know a friend who can read pretty much every word but does not know what any of it means, weird huh?

 

[paper cup]

some people just aren't built for learning another language (ie. me), while others pick it up very quickly.

eh, and sometimes people just lose interest half way through
i.e. like with me and french, goddamn it