In this 30 slide presentation, I talk about (1) Why Mandarin CAN be difficult, (2) Why Mandarin can also NOT be difficult, (3) HOW to make learning Mandarin easier, and (4) My recommended resources for learning it. For more information, please visit http://rocket-chinese-review.com/ . Thanks!
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
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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)
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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?
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Why Mandarin is hard
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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)
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Why Mandarin is hard
• So why do people think it is?
• 3 reasons, really
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Why Mandarin is hard
• Reason 1: Characters
• The most complex writing system across all
languages
• Every character is unique
• More than 100,000 characters
• English only has 26!
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Why Mandarin is hard
• 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
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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
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Why Mandarin is hard
• Reason 3:Writing
• Question at hand isn’t difficulty...
• ...but one of standards
• Chinese writing = grossly higher standards than
English
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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.)
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Why Mandarin isn’t hard
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Ways to make Mandarin easier
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Making Mandarin easier
• These might sound strange, but I think you need
these
• (1) Understanding of structure
• (2) A plan
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Making Mandarin easier
• What’s structure?
• How the language works, i.e.
• (1) The pinyin system
• (2) Basic grammar counterparts (to your
native language)
• (3) Stroke order
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Making Mandarin easier
• (4) Radicals (positioning and meaning)
• (5) Functional vocabulary
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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
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Making Mandarin easier
• 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
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Month Goals Tasks
1 Pinyin Master all 400 sounds of pinyin
2
Strokes +
radicals
Learn 12 strokes, 10 stroke rules, and
40 most commonly used radicals
3 Basic grammar
Learn 15 Chinese grammar
points + compare to English
4 Basic grammar
Learn 15 more Chinese
grammar points
5
Common
expressions
Learn 2 - 3 phrases a day
6 Vocabulary
Start reading to increase
vocabulary
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Making Mandarin easier
• Do I recommend a tutor?
• Yes...and no
• Yes for when you’re more advanced
• Great to get real time, instant feedback
• More fun!
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Making Mandarin easier
• 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?
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Making Mandarin easier
• Bilingual + doesn’t know how to teach?
• Chinese + English + bad pronunciation?
• ...you get the idea.
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Making Mandarin easier
• 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
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Making Mandarin easier
• 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)
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Making Mandarin easier
• 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
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Conclusion
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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
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For more tips on Chinese culture, learning and my
recommended resources, please visit
http://rocket-chinese-review.com/
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!谢谢
(Thanks!)